South Korean Sentenced in 'Octopus Death' Scheme A report says a South Korean man who blamed a live octopus for the death of his girlfriend has been sentenced to life in prison for killing her. Yonhap news agency says police had initially concluded in 2010 that the man's girlfriend suffocated while swallowing an entire octopus that stuck in her throat. It says prosecutors reopened the case five months later after her family found that the man had received $180,000 in insurance money for her death. Yonhap says a court in the city of Incheon convicted the 31-year-old man on Thursday of smothering the woman to death. Live octopuses are a delicacy in South Korea and are usually eaten after being cut into pieces.