Man who let his father die due to financial difficulties to be released on parole

A 25-year-old man currently serving a prison term for patricide will be released next Tuesday on parole, a Daegu-based civic group said Thursday.

In a highly publicized case in 2021, the man was convicted after he stopped providing food and medication for his terminally ill father due to financial difficulties.

The victim had been bedridden since suffering a brain hemorrhage in September 2020, not being able to eat or relieve himself on his own. But his son, who had been on his mandatory military duties at the time, was unable to pay the medical bills and had him discharged on April 23, 2021.

The son cared for the father at home, but he started giving him less medication and food, cutting them off entirely on May 1. The victim died due to sepsis, pneumonia and severe malnutrition a week later on Parent's Day.

The man was sentenced to four years in prison for violating Article 250 of the Criminal Act, killing one's ascendant. The legal minimum punishment for such a crime is seven years in prison, but the court granted him leniency due to his young age and his circumstances of being a young college student with limited financial means.

But the unfortunate circumstances that befell the man had led several groups and individuals to help him. Chuntaeil's Friends provided monthly supplies for him during incarceration and plans to continue aid upon release. The group supports socially disadvantaged people in Daegu and takes its name after the legendary workers' rights activist Chun Tae-il.

Former lawmaker Jeon Soonok, a younger sister of the late activist, also aided him by helping find him a lawyer.