The main building of the Uijeongbu District Court in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province / Korea Times photo by Lim Myeong-su
A Korean man who intentionally poured boiling water on his Thai wife’s face, leaving her with severe burns, received a prison sentence longer than the term sought by prosecutors.
Judge Kim Jun-young of the Uijeongbu District Court on Tuesday sentenced a Korean man in his 40s, identified only as “A,” to three and a half years in prison on charges of special bodily injury.
A was indicted on charges of pouring boiling water from an electric kettle onto the face and neck of his Thai wife, who is in her 30s, while she was asleep at their apartment in Howon-dong on Dec. 3, 2025. He initially claimed that he tripped and spilled the water accidentally, but later admitted to the charge during the trial and appealed for leniency.
“Deliberately pouring boiling water onto his sleeping wife’s face was a violent crime that would be difficult for an ordinary person to comprehend,” Judge Kim said in the ruling, adding that the victim had suffered “considerable physical and psychological trauma.”
