"Giving 100 Million+ Employment to Father... The Misguided Filial Piety of a 50s CEO"

Sentenced to 1 Year 6 Months Imprisonment with 3 Years Probation
Court Considers "Crime Committed to Save Father"

A son in his 50s who attempted illegal organ trafficking to save his sick father was sentenced to prison with a suspended sentence.

The Criminal Division 12 of Daegu District Court (Chief Judge Eo Jae-won) on the 7th sentenced A (55), who was indicted on charges of instructing others to find a donor by offering payment for an organ transplant (violation of the Act on Organ Transplantation, etc.), to 1 year and 6 months in prison with a 3-year suspension.

In December 2021, A asked B, an employee of the construction company he runs, and others, "We need someone to donate a liver to my father. I will pay, so please find someone who can donate a liver." Two months later, in February of last year, when they found C, the liver donor, A promised to pay C 150 million won. In addition to the cash payment, A also offered to employ C and C's son at A's company.

Daegu District Court building.

When C accepted, B and others instructed C to pretend to be A's wife. This was because under current law, organ donation is only allowed from relatives within the fourth degree of kinship. To make C appear as his wife, A forged a copy of a resident registration card and even took a photo of it to submit to the hospital's organ donation staff.

Subsequently, C received approval from the National Organ, Tissue and Blood Management Agency as an organ transplant candidate and was hospitalized in March last year for organ extraction surgery. However, the scheduled surgery was postponed because C contracted COVID-19, and the fact that C had pretended to be A's wife was discovered, resulting in the surgery being canceled. A's father passed away in July of the same year.

The court stated, "Illegal organ transplantation can cause serious harm to public health," and added, "The act of exchanging organs for financial gain requires strict punishment." It further pointed out, "The defendant clearly knew that organ transplantation is only possible from relatives within the fourth degree of kinship, yet he instructed others to find someone to donate a liver to his father by offering money or other compensation, which is a serious offense."

However, regarding the sentencing, the court explained, "The sentence was determined considering that the defendant is remorseful, that the crime was committed with the intention to save his father, and that the illegal organ trade did not actually take place because the crime was uncovered."

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