Four middle school students who allegedly lynched a peer to death on an apartment rooftop in Yeonsu-gu District in Incheon leave Incheon Namdong Police Station for questioning at Incheon District Court on Nov. 16. Yonhap



By Ko Dong-hwan



Russians in Korea are upset and bitter after a gang of teenagers allegedly lynched to death an Incheon boy, 14, whose mother was Russian and father Korean.



The outrage was evident in online communities frequented by Russian residents here, according to a Russian friend of the victim's mother on a Korean morning radio show on Nov. 20.



Some Russians lamented that under Korean juvenile laws, the three male and one female middle school students who allegedly took the victim's life cannot be jailed.



"All the Russian parents from our communities are enraged that because the suspects are 14 years old they cannot go to jail," said Maria, who said she had known the victim since he was a boy, on CBS.



She said, "The tallest one among the suspects was particularly close to the victim when they were children" because they used to spend time eating and playing at the victim's home.



"How can this happen?" she asked.



But she said the victim had been like an outcast among his peers and that he was frequently ostracized and victimized. One peer used to demand something from the victim, such as a pizza, in exchange for spending time with him "like a fox" in front of a rabbit.



"To us, he was being ditched by the others," Maria said. "But he wanted to treat them as his family members, friends. That's why he did all that."





The victim's Russian mother claimed that one suspect, above, was wearing a windbreaker that belonged to her son. Yonhap