New York, Oct 21: A 57-year-old South Korean man, who fired seven shots outside the United Nations headquarters a year ago, was sentenced to 27 months imprisonment by a court here. Steven Kim, a naturalised US citizen with no criminal history, had pleaded guilty to the charge of attacking foreign officials but said he was only trying to bring to the notice of the world body the miserable conditions in North Korea.
Judge Robert P Patterson accepted Kim's claim that he did not want to hurt anybody and rejected the prosecution plea for a longer term.
On October 03 last year, Kim, a former postal worker, jumped the fence that rings the UN grounds and began firing a .357 caliber pistol into the air around the Secretariat building.
Four bullets, fired from a handgun, had hit the building shattering several windows and two employees of the world body had a narrow escape.
Bureau Report