BUSAN: A 49-year-old former airline pilot who plotted to kill six former colleagues and fatally stabbed one of them was sentenced to life in prison Friday.
The Busan District Court convicted Kim Dong-hwan of murder, attempted murder, preparing to commit murder, trespassing and violating information network laws. The court also ordered him to wear an electronic tracking device for 30 years.
Kim was accused of fatally stabbing a former airline captain at an apartment in Busanjin-gu, Busan, on March 17.
A day earlier, he attempted to kill another former colleague, also an airline captain, at a residence in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, prosecutors said. He had planned to kill four other people connected to his former employer.
Prosecutors said Kim had prepared for the attacks for more than seven months from August 2025, following his targets, attaching tracking devices to vehicles and surveying their homes and daily routines.
He also allegedly used a former colleague's account to access the airline's internal flight schedule system 17 times to check the victims' schedules.
The court said the crimes were carefully planned and brutal, and it rejected Kim's claim that he had been driven to the attacks after being unfairly treated by former colleagues with backgrounds at the Korea Air Force Academy.
It also cited Kim's lack of remorse and high risk of reoffending, saying he needed to be permanently isolated from society to prevent similar crimes from happening again.
During an earlier hearing, Kim said he felt no remorse towards the victims and made remarks suggesting further attacks against those who remained on his target list. - Korean Herald/ANN
