On December 10, the Seoul Central District Court revealed to the public that a woman 'A' was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in jail and 3 years of probation for beating her abusive husband 'B' to death out of self-defense. Netizens are outraged by the verdict as they believe that 'A' had no choice due to 'B's overbearing violence.

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'A' and 'B' married back in 1996, yet when 'B' became addicted to gambling, he began to waste away his money and habitually verbally and physically abuse his wife and two sons. 'B' would sometimes even threaten his family with a knife or scissors, and he beat 'A' to the point that she became visually impaired. 'A' became depressed due to 'B's abusive ways.

In April, 'A' divorced 'B', but 'B' continued to harass the family as he would frequently look for 'A' and beat her violently. It came to the point that in May, the court placed a restraining order on 'B' dictating that he could not be within 100 meters (approx. 328 ft) of 'A' and her sons' home or schools. Yet only a week after the restraining order was placed, 'B' went to the younger son's school, demanded that he be expelled, and beat him.

'A' tried to talk to 'B' for her sons' sake, but during their meeting 'B' held a knife to her. 'A' attempted to run away from 'B', but when 'B' cornered her, the two engaged in a physical fight. Somewhere along the line, 'A' grabbed a frying pan and beat 'B' with it, fracturing his rib and inflicting other injuries. 'B' died from excessive bleeding.

The Department of Justice stated, "Although there was a moment 'A' could have escaped the scene, she instead beat ['B'] to the point that she exceeded her defensive position and became an aggressive attacker."

They explained that they did sympathize with 'A', however, saying, "['A'] tried to reason with 'B', who, even with a restraining order, went to his son's school to harass him; however, 'A' was verbally abused and violently attacked to the point that she was suffering. The court is considering the fact that ['A'] was diagnosed with a visual impairment due to 'B's violence and that she still looked after her family after her divorce with 'B'."

Still, netizens were angry with the verdict, posting comments, such as, "Wow, so even though the husband went that far, [the family] absolutely could not get help from the court? [He] even went so far as to pursue his children with a knife, but [the family] was just supposed to take it and suffer their whole lives?? Just because it's not [the judges'] own lives [they don't care], seriously�," "Are the judges made of stone? [The family] is innocent and the situation isn't so strange�. She was beaten by her husband, she even developed a visual impairment�. He even held a knife [to her].... He's a dog that violated his restraining order and went to his child and attacked him�. Seriously," and, "Aigoo. I knew how bad the nation's law system was, but isn't domestic violence also bad? Bastards."