A 23-year-old college student will serve a 30-year prison sentence for breaking into his neighbor’s home and killing the elderly couple inside, the South Korean Supreme Court ruled on Thursday. 

The high court decision confirmed the previous ruling of the lower courts that had sentenced the defendant surnamed Seol to 30 years in jail.

The killing occurred on Aug. 10, 2015, when Seol, while intoxicated, trespassed into the victim’s house in downtown Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang Province, around at 3 a.m. 

He took a knife from the kitchen and reportedly stabbed the couple to death several times while they were sleeping.

Seol was on a break from college after serving in the military, the court said.

By Bak Se-hwan (sh@heraldcorp.com)