An appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that sentenced two supermarket workers to prison terms for preparing weapons to kill their boss and hurting each other.

The Seoul High Court said Wednesday that it sentenced defendants surnamed Lee and Choi to a two-year imprisonment suspended for three years, and a jail term of two years, respectively, on charges including making preparations to murder.

The two shopping cart attendants decided to kill their manager, who they thought was condescending toward them, while they were drinking, and headed to the supermarket with weapons on an early morning last September. 

The duo, however, got into a fight with each other, with the weapons in their hands. Choi, who wielded the weapon at Lee first, was charged with inflicting special bodily injury. Lee, who snatched the weapon from Choi and tried to kill him, was charged with attempted murder.

A passerby saw them fighting and reported the brawl to the police, who arrested them.

“Choi appears to have led the preparation of murder,” the judge said in the verdict, adding that the two seem to have conspired to commit the crime on impulse as Choi, heavily intoxicated, became agitated while complaining about their boss.

The sentence was determined based on the judgment that the chances of the two actually committing murder were not high, the judge said.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)