SEOUL: A 66-year-old Buddhist monk has been sentenced to a year in prison for repeated violent outbursts against his common-law wife.
The Seoul Central District Court found the defendant guilty of aggravated assault and intimidation.
The defendant had threatened the victim with a chair at their home on Dec 20, 2024, striking her neck with his hands and grabbing her by the hair while drunk.
The violence continued, with the defendant at one point holding two knives against the victim and threatening to harm her.
It was found that the defendant had been punished 39 times for various assault and intimidation charges in the past, including a 14-month prison term in May 2005.
He was also sentenced to a suspended jail term for an assault against his wife, who pleaded for leniency.
“Despite being punished for the same crime dozens of times, (the defendant) made no efforts to improve his ways and inflicted repeated damage against the victim,” the court said in its ruling.
The victim divorced the defendant in 2022, but remained in a common-law marriage with him since.
While the victim had also pleaded for leniency in this case, the court said a prison term is inevitable considering the defendant’s history.
Some Buddhist sects in South Korea allow their monks to get married, but it has not been revealed which Buddhist order the defendant is a member of. - The Korea Herald/ANN
