Ex-pilot gets life sentence for killing former airline colleague

A former pilot was sentenced to life in prison Friday for murdering an airline captain and plotting to kill five other former colleagues.

The Busan District Court handed down the sentence to Kim Dong-hwan, 49, after convicting him of murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder, and ordered him to wear an electronic monitoring device for 30 years.

Kim was indicted for fatally stabbing an airline captain, who had previously worked with him, at an apartment in the southeastern port city of Busan on March 17 and attempting to strangle another airline captain in Goyang, northwest of Seoul, the previous day. All three had attended the Air Force Academy and worked as colleagues at the same airline.

Immediately after the murder in Busan, Kim went to the residence of another former colleague in the southeastern city of Changwon but was unable to carry out the planned attack.

The court said Kim's stated motive for the crimes was difficult to accept and that he needed to be permanently isolated from society.

"The defendant claims that he committed the crimes because the victims, who were former pilots at the Air Force Academy, systematically slandered him and put him at a disadvantage. However, this is merely a one-sided claim, as the victims not only do not understand why the defendant harbored a grudge against them, but some even had only a vague recollection of the defendant," the court said.

The court also said the defendant has a strong tendency toward egocentric thinking, poses a high risk of recidivism and requires psychiatric treatment, citing the results of a psychological assessment.