Background
Our client, a delivery worker in his twenties, was drinking with an acquaintance in a park pavilion one night in September 2025. When the acquaintance angrily demanded to know how our client had learned about the acquaintance's own criminal case, the argument escalated.
Our client broke a soju bottle, stabbed the acquaintance in the neck with it, and struck and kicked him. The injuries required about 14 days of treatment. Prosecutors charged our client with aggravated injury (teuksu sanghae, causing injury with a dangerous object).
What Was at Stake
Aggravated injury carries no fine option under Korean law; only imprisonment is available. The court itself found the offense serious because a broken bottle was used and the wound was to the neck. The victim also refused to forgive our client and declined the money he offered. The key question was whether a prison term could be avoided.
How Changchun Helped
Law Firm Changchun acted as defense counsel at trial. In its judgment, the court weighed the following in our client's favor:
Admission. Our client admitted the offense in full in court.
Efforts to compensate. When the victim refused payment, our client deposited money with the court for the victim (a court deposit, gongtak), which the court treated as a genuine effort to make amends.
No prior record. Our client had never been criminally punished before.
Outcome
In July 2026, the first-instance court sentenced our client to 10 months' imprisonment, suspended for two years. The court set the sentence after considering the mitigated statutory range (6 months to 5 years) and the sentencing guideline range (6 months to 2 years).
Even when a victim refuses to settle, a candid admission and a court deposit can open the way to a suspended sentence in a violent case involving a dangerous object. (Outcomes depend on the facts of each case.)