A Seoul court has ordered life imprisonment for Cho Sun for killing one man and wounding three others during a stabbing rampage in Seoul's Gwanak District last summer.

The Seoul Central District Court on Wednesday also ordered the 34-year-old wear an electronic tracking device for 30 years, chastising him for committing an extremely brutal and vicious crime that incited widespread public fear and led to copycat crimes nationwide.

While Cho claimed to have a mental disability during the trial, the court decided otherwise as he had prepared the weapon in advance and aimed to inflict fatal wounds.

The court said, however, it decided against the death penalty sought by the prosecution due to the limited amount of preparation by Cho as well as in consideration of his emotional insecurities stemming from childhood.

During the stabbing spree near Seoul's Sillim subway station on July 21, Cho inflicted fatal stab wounds on his first victim, a man in his 20s, and injured three other men in their 30s in a nearby alleyway.