Death Sentence

[Anchor Lead]

A thirty-five year old man accused of sexually molesting and murdering his teenage daughter's friend was sentenced to death at a lower court hearing on Wednesday. Seoul Northern District Court handed the sentence to Lee Young-hak, saying it was difficult to even imagine the pain suffered by the 14-year old victim.

[Pkg]

Lee Young-hak, known as "Molar Daddy," disembarks from a police vehicle and heads into court.

[Soundbite] Lee Young-hak(Accused Murderer) : "(Would you like to say something to the victim's family?) …."

The judges have issued a death sentence for Lee. The verdict said that Lee must be isolated from society forever. The judges said that the pain that Lee's victim went through was unimaginable and that his crime had caused irreparable damage. The judges added that Lee was not feeling remorse for his horrendous crime whatsoever. The court rejected the defendant's claim that he was mentally unstable when committing his crime. Lee was also indicted for having his wife sell sex to more than ten men and falsely accusing his stepfather of rape. He had also illegally raised nearly one billion won in charity funds by capitalizing on his daughter's incurable disease since 2007. The court issued grave punishment for Lee for obstructing social order. Lee's daughter has been sentenced to four years in prison for helping her father sexually molest and murder her friend. But her sentence can be extended to up to six years in case of an infraction during her prison term. Meanwhile, the National Assembly has passed a bill to abolish the statute of limitation for those who commit sexual crimes on minors younger than 13.