A man in his 20s who killed 76 stray cats because they scratched his car, has received a short prison sentence.

According to legal sources, on April 23, Judge Jung Yoon Taek from the Changwon District Court's Criminal Division sentenced the man to 1 year and 2 months in prison for violating the Animal Protection Act. 

The court found that the man had killed a total of 76 cats on 54 separate occasions from December 2022 to September 2023. It was found that the man had killed the stray cats in various locations, including Gimhae, Busan, Seongju Gyeongbuk, Daegu, and Yongin in the Gyeonggi province. In each of these incidents, the man cruelly strangled or killed the cats with a weapon, killing one to four cats at a time.

The court stated, "The defendant cruelly killed the cats he adopted from a cat adoption site, citing that they had scratched his car. To learn the value of life, he needs to be admitted to a correctional facility. Taking into account that this is his first offense with no prior criminal record and that he has shown remorse, the court has determined his sentence (of 14 months in prison)."

Korean netizens responded:

"I heard serial killers always kill small animals first."

"He killed 76 cats but was only sentenced to 1 year and 2 months in prison?"

"Psychopaths always kill animals first and then kill people. Why are they sentencing that psycho path to only 1 year and 2 months? They should give him 20 years so he can't return to society. Normal people don't even imagine to hurt small animals like that. Even if they accidentally step on the cat's tail, they feel so bad. He's a psychopath that's why he's able to do that without feeling anything. If he was only targeting animals until now, who knows if he will start killing people when he gets released after a year."

"I bet you he would be sentenced to 30 years in prison in the U.S."

"Only 1 year?"

"They should've given him 1 year for each cat killed and given him 76 years in prison."

"He's a psycho."

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