‘Han River torso murder case’ convict Jang Dae-ho, whose life sentence was finalized. Yonhap News

Jang Dae-ho, the perpetrator in the so-called ‘Han River torso case’ whose life sentence was finalized for murdering a motel guest and mutilating and abandoning the body (murder, destruction of a corpse, etc.), filed a lawsuit against the correctional authorities claiming he was not allowed to watch TV in prison, but lost.

According to the legal community on the 18th, last month the Daegu District Court Administrative Division 2 (Presiding Judge Joo Gyeong-tae) dismissed the complaint in the lawsuit Jang filed against North Gyeongsang Northern No. 2 Prison seeking confirmation of invalidity of measures including a ‘ban on watching television’.

After receiving six disciplinary sanctions in November 2024, including two for assaulting staff and one for verbal abuse, Jang was transferred from his previous facility to North Gyeongsang Northern No. 2 Prison, which specializes in managing inmates with violent tendencies.

The prison then confined Jang for four months in a room without a television and also restricted participation in religious services and the use of an electric shaver to maintain facility safety and order. In September of last year, Jang filed suit, arguing that “(the prison authorities) departed from and abused their discretion by restricting basic rights for an extended period.”

The court stated that “there is a concern about fights with other inmates and he is recognized as unsuitable for communal living, so the measures can be seen as reasonable on a preventive basis,” adding that “(the measures taken by the prison) cannot be viewed as excessively infringing on the basic rights of Jang.”

In August 2019, Jang was indicted on charges of killing a motel guest with a blunt object at the motel where he worked because the guest picked a quarrel and did not pay the lodging fee, mutilating the body, and dumping it in the Han River. His life sentence was finalized the following year.