30s Sentenced to Prison for Pushing Colleague Without Life Jacket into River as a Prank, Resulting in Death

Court Sentences to 6 Months Imprisonment for 'Negligent Homicide'... "Consideration of Rescue Efforts"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seoyoung Kwon] A man in his 30s who pushed a colleague into a river as a prank during an outing, resulting in the colleague's death, has been sentenced to imprisonment.

Today (the 3rd), the Chuncheon District Court Criminal Division 1 (Presiding Judge Munsik Jeong) announced that A (31), who was charged with involuntary manslaughter, was sentenced to 6 months in prison. A was tried for pushing B (28), who was not wearing a life jacket, into the river from a pontoon at a water leisure facility of a resort located in Chuncheon City around 3 p.m. on August 17 last year, causing B's death.

The two were part-time workers at the same restaurant, and it was revealed that they had come on an outing that day with the restaurant owner and others. A saw B standing at the edge of the pontoon jokingly trying to push the restaurant owner into the river along with other employees, and without checking whether B could swim, pushed him, resulting in B's death.

Judge Jeong stated, "The degree of breach of duty of care was serious and caused deep and significant wounds to the bereaved families," and added, "Considering that (A) sincerely reflected on his actions, made efforts to rescue the victim by removing the pontoon floor after the incident, and that it was difficult to find efforts by the resort staff to actively stop their prank."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.