Yang Jeong-ryeol / Captured from Daegu District Prosecutors' Office Gimcheon Branch website

Prosecutors have sought the death penalty for Yang Jeong-ryeol, 32, who murdered a man he had never met before and used the victim's fingerprint to take out a loan worth tens of millions of won.

During a sentencing hearing at the Gimcheon branch of the Daegu District Court on Monday, the prosecution requested the maximum legal penalty of death and an additional 30 years of electronic monitoring.

"Yang Jeong-ryeol's crime is so heinous that it is difficult to consider it an act committed by one human against another," prosecutors said. "The possibility of rehabilitation is extremely low."

Yang is accused of fatally stabbing a man in his 30s at an officetel in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, last November. After the murder, he left the victim's body in the apartment and stole the victim's identification card and bank card, using them to spend millions of won at convenience stores, taxis and hotels. When the funds ran out, he returned to the victim's residence and used the deceased's fingerprint to secure a 60 million won ($45,000) loan through a contactless transaction. Investigators revealed that Yang had posed as a security guard to deceive the victim into opening his door. He was arrested one week after the crime.

Prosecutors had previously disclosed Yang's identity, citing the brutality of the crime, the severity of the harm, public interest and the victim's family's request for information disclosure.

The court is scheduled to deliver its verdict on April 15.

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.