South Korea Supreme Court voids reduced sentence for shaman over niece's fatal ritual

On Sept. 23, South Korea’s Supreme Court set aside a Seoul High Court ruling that had reduced an 81-year-old shaman’s sentence to seven years for the death of her niece during a purported exorcism. The court held that prosecutors could not dismiss the possibility of deliberate intent, ordering a new trial. The fatal ritual took place on Sept. 18, 2024, at a restaurant in Bupyeong-gu, Incheon, where the victim was restrained on a metal frame and exposed to burning charcoal for about three hours.

Sim claimed the woman was possessed and needed to be driven out, yet the ceremony continued after she lost consciousness, and emergency services were called only after she became unresponsive. The victim later died from multiple organ failure. Earlier courts had differed: a district court sentenced Sim to life for murder, while an appellate court reduced the charge to causing death by bodily injury, citing insufficient proof of intent. The Supreme Court described the ceremony as exceptionally cruel and noted that Sim’s four-decade shamanic practice had never involved such a dangerous method.