Woman jailed for attempted murder as feud among in-laws turns violent

A woman in her 20s was sentenced to seven years in jail for the attempted murder of her mother-in-law, after becoming infuriated with the victim for interfering in an argument with her husband.

The Busan District Court on Tuesday found the defendant guilty of attempted murder for the attack, which occurred April 25 at her residence in Busan at around 10:25 p.m. The defendant had gotten into an argument over financial issues during a phone conversation with her husband, after which the mother-in-law told her, "A woman shouldn't be so loud."

The defendant stabbed the victim eight times with a kitchen knife while strangling her, inflicting injuries that were not critical. The defendant, her husband and the victim had lived in the same house.

Investigation discovered that the defendant had been infuriated by the argument to such a degree that she decided to "stab whomever to death."

"(The defendant) had clear intent to kill the victim. The victim suffered a substantial amount of physical and psychological damage and is asking for the defendant to be severely punished," the court said in its ruling.

The court also noted that the defendant had previously been convicted of special bodily injury — harm inflicted using a weapon or collective force — by the same court in October 2020. She served her sentence at Cheongju Women’s Correctional Institution and was released in July 2024.

The court said it took into consideration the fact that the defendant had not planned to commit the crime ahead of time, and that the attack did not kill the victim. However, her decision to turn herself in did not factor into her punishment, due to her being a repeat offender of grievous crime.