Jeon Juhwan's First Trial Today for 'Sindang Station Murder'... Expectation of Decision on Confidentiality

Suspect Jeon Juhwan in the 'Sindang Station Stalking Murder' case is being transferred from the Namdaemun Police Station detention center in Jung-gu, Seoul to the prosecution on the 21st of last month. Photo by Mun Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The first trial of Jeon Juhwan (31, male), who is accused of murdering a subway station attendant at Sindang Station after stalking her, will be held on the 18th.

At 2:30 p.m. on the 18th, the Criminal Division 25-1 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judges Park Jeonggil, Park Jeongje, Park Sarang) will conduct the first pretrial hearing for Jeon Juhwan, who has been indicted on charges including retaliatory murder under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes.

During the pretrial hearing, the defendant’s position on the charges will be confirmed, and plans for evidence investigation will be made in preparation for the formal trial. Unlike the trial, the defendant is not obligated to attend.

The victim’s representatives and the prosecution requested that the trial be held behind closed doors due to concerns about secondary harm. The court is expected to listen to both parties’ opinions and decide whether to make the trial public.

Jeon Juhwan submitted letters of apology to the court three times up until the day before. On the 14th, he also submitted a request through his lawyer to change the trial date.

On the 6th, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office investigation team (led by Deputy Chief Prosecutor Kim Sumin) formally indicted Jeon Juhwan on charges including retaliatory murder under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, violation of the Information and Communications Network Act, violation of the Personal Information Protection Act, and trespassing. They also requested an order to attach an electronic location tracking device. This came 15 days after the police transferred the case on the 21st of last month.

According to the prosecution, Jeon Juhwan decided to kill the victim after the sentencing date for the stalking case, in which he was indicted following the victim’s report, was set and a prison sentence was expected, thinking that “everything he had built up until now would collapse.”

The prosecution stated that from August 18, when the sentencing hearing for the stalking case was held, until the day of the crime, Jeon Juhwan visited the subway station office four times to meticulously prepare for the crime by confirming the victim’s address and work information.

Jeon Juhwan secretly entered the victim’s residential building to wait around the time she finished her daytime shift, but the victim had already moved elsewhere, so he could not commit the crime there. Eventually, Jeon Juhwan went to Sindang Station, where she worked, and stabbed the victim to death with a weapon in the women’s restroom.

On the 29th of last month, at the Seoul Western District Court, Jeon Juhwan was sentenced to nine years in prison for stalking and illegal filming charges. He appealed the first trial verdict related to this case.

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