시사저널
As a piece of red cloth flies away, the body of a tenth victim is found. Is this finally the last murder?
An hour from the heart of Seoul is the peaceful city of Hwaseong, known for its vast farmland and rice fields in the mountains. Renowned today for its UNESCO-listed fortress, Starfield Palace and Library, Hwaseong — also related to Suwon — attracts curious tourists to learn more about Korea’s history. But between 1986 and 1991, a wave of murders fell on the inhabitants of a village, a criminal case that will then be known by its judicial error without limits.
September 1986: a man finds the lifeless body of a lady in her seventies, on a road in the middle of a field, while the Asian games taking place in Korea only begin. The police arriving at the crime scene first consider that it was a theft case that went wrong, or that the victim was hit by a vehicle. The autopsy then reveals a rape, and a death by strangulation. This case is not a simple accident, but because of the games, only three policemen were dispatched to the scene, fearing a North Korean attack during the sporting events.
October 1986: a young girl in her twenties is found naked in a field, her tights around her neck having obviously been used to strangle her, raped in turn.
November 1986: third victim, and one of only two who manage to escape their captor. After being attacked by a man, and taken to a field to be raped and killed out of sight, the young woman indicated to her attacker who wanted to steal her wallet that she had to drop it on the road when she was caught. Despite her ties holding her wrists, she managed to escape to a neighboring house when her attacker went in search of the said wallet and a sketch could finally be established. At that time, the killings received very little media coverage, resulting in a large part of the population unaware of the wrongdoing. A case of serial murders was unprecedented in Korea, the police preferred to remain cautious about its allegations.
The suspect is described as between 24 and 27 years old, measuring between one meter sixty-five and seventy, the average for a man at that time. His robot portrait presents him as a young man with very short hair, and sharp eyes and empty of remorse.
December 1986: new murder, that of a girl in her twenties with her face covered by her clothes, her tights stuck in the throat. Two days later, a fourth body is discovered, her blouse tying her hands behind his back, his face covered with panties, the tights tightening his neck. An operating mode seems to be gradually emerging.
January 1987: fifth victim, teenage girl. What do all these women have in common? They wore red at the time of their assault. The murders spread, the population begins to get scared, and they are discouraged to go out at night, and to wear red so as not to attract the attention of the killer. We are starting to see totems being planted in rice fields with the words “if you do not hand yourself in, you will be torn limb from limb”. Above all, the inefficiency of the police was pointed out, while the murders were only 2km apart each time.
We had to wait for this fifth murder to finally come to the conclusion that the killer was probably the same, and not a coincidence. It was at this time that the reinforcements were sent to Hwaseong, but the technology was so weak that it was not possible to collect DNA from the crime scenes at the time. The only lead: blood type B, taken from the bodies. Hair, saliva, and semen were taken, but the fingerprints were compared with the ones in the police files. In short, the evidence was numerous, but no way to analyze them to exploit them.
The procedure seemed to be as follows: the victims were attacked if they wore red, tied with their clothes, strangled with tights. Some were raped, others were found with fruits such as peaches in the vagina. The killer is considered methodical, sadistic, psychopath, nymphomaniac, but above all very intelligent to manage not to be caught by the police despite all the murders in such a short time. Thanks to the rapid development of Korea at that time, the media were able to relay information more quickly, and a real manhunt began.
May 1987: Children discover a body on the edge of a forest, less evidence than for previous victims, but same procedure. A man was also assaulted shortly after, but was released, as having undoubtedly been mistaken for a woman with her long hair, and her jacket with feminine allure. A month later, the protests of the villagers broke out, but also of the people who demanded at the same time a democratization of the country, following the great riot of Gwangju in 1980, under the presidency of CHUN DOOHWAN. Ten thousand policemen were requisitioned to control the citizens, and avoid further riots in the country.
September 1988: A seventh victim is discovered, more than a year after the last murder. The body found is that of a lady in her fifties.
The eighth murder marked a turning point in this criminal case. A thirteen-year-old girl, PARK SANGHEE, was found dead in her room, raped and strangled. This was the one and only time a murder occurred at the victim’s home, with no apparent “reason”, not wearing red. Her age scandalized Korea, but a new clue was discovered: traces of heavy metals resembling titanium. The police immediately thought of a farmer or a mechanic, titanium being often used for agricultural vehicles, or in repair. Hair was found, and it was decided to question nearly 20,000 men between the ages of 20 and 40, to take their hair, print, and blood type. Then, a suspect emerges: YOON SUNGYEO.
YOON was born in Seoul, where he lived until the death of his mother in a car accident when he was only a child. At the age of three, he moved with his father to Hwaseong, covered in debt, leading the life of a beggar. Since his father gave him little interest and dropped out of school to focus on his gambling addiction, YOON was taken in by a farmer and began working for him, repairing farm machinery. In regular contact with heavy metals, he also knew PARK who was the little sister of one of his friends. Disabled, having difficulty moving and walking, the police thought that he had killed those women, because he would have developed a hatred against them, because as a disabled person, he had no companion. His hair and pubic hair were sampled, and he was charged when his blood type came out as B.
July 1989: YOON is arrested for the murder of PARK, after he confessed the murder to the police. He will tell more than twenty years later that the interrogation room in which he had been taken made him think of a cell used during the Japanese occupation, with its chains hanging from the ceiling. There he was forced to squat for hours, not eat or sleep for days, and was beaten again and again, so that he cracked and confessed, out of fear, pain, and weakness. In reality, YOON is not the killer, but the police are under so much pressure from the government and citizens that it made only at its head, and rushed to charge the first man corresponding a minimum of the notice of search. The confession was dictated, a culprit had been found, whatever the cost.
Realizing what gear he had fallen into, YOON began to claim his innocence. At the age of only twenty-two when he was arrested, it was exhausted, and desperate, that he had to make his confession live on television. It was in August that a reenactment of the murder took place, blatantly highlighting the fact that he was innocent, but the police would not and could not admit its mistake. However, the reconstruction highlighted a major problem: a wall. Indeed, to reach the house of the teenager and more particularly her room, the killer had to climb a wall. Nevertheless, the polio that YOON suffered was so severe that he was simply unable to. Nevertheless, the police charged him, and immediately closed the investigation.
February 1990: the trial takes place, YOON pleading not guilty despite the lack of counsel, this right having been withdrawn. Having dropped school at the end of primary school, he was recognized as a naive and impressionable person whose defense was difficult. The only evidence against him was against all odds the forced confession he had to make, resulting in a life sentence. It is only 21 years and six months later that he will see the light of day again, as a free man.
« I have one reason to prove my innocence. If I see my mother in heaven as a criminal, I can’t forgive myself. » – YOON SUNGYEO
Behind bars, YOON continued to claim his innocence, resulting in solitary confinement. No one believed it, since the police seemed sure of their choice. But soon, the situation changed.
November 1990: a schoolgirl is found dead.
April 1991: we reach the ten victims, a lady in her sixties. All the murders established a perimeter of 10km around the city of Hwaseong, but YOON being already imprisoned, the police said the last two murders must be the mischief of a copycat. Then, no one was ever found until YOON was released in August 2009.
April 2006: the limitation period for the tenth murder expiring, if the real murderer is one day caught, he can not be charged.
September 2019: 28 years have passed since the last murder. It is now 10 years since YOON’s release. After spending three years living in a religious community in order to reintegrate into society, the man is now marked by his time behind bars. And then, finally, with the evolution of technology, a DNA match is found. It is after three decades that the real killer is apprehended in Busan; LEE CHUNJAE.
« You finally caught me ! » – LEE CHUGJAE
In 1994, LEE was accused of raping and killing his little sister, and has been serving a life sentence in a prison on Busan since. Fascinated by women, he was more so with their hands, which he liked to touch and put forward with gags. After talking to an investigator, he revealed the details of the ten murders, including that of the teenager PARK, as well as the two failed attempts. YOON is then officially cleared during a new trial, in November 2020.
Tracing LEE’s past, it was discovered that the attacks had taken place near his home, and that he was questioned among the 20,000 men potentially matching the profile of the murderer. But coming from a wealthy family, the police turned away from his profile, wrongly persuaded again that the killer could only be a poor man. Surprise, we discover that his blood type is O, and once again the scandal breaks out: from the beginning, the group identified as B was actually O, the criminal error having cost the youth of YOON worsening. At the trial, LEE even testified for YOON to help clear his name.
« Why did I decide to confess to the killings? Because of me, so many people have suffered pain and tears.» – LEE CHUNJAE
The first thing, unsurprisingly, that YOON said in his verdict, was how happy he was to be able to access heaven and see his mother as a free and innocent man. Resilient, he blames the era in which the murders took place, and his lack of advanced technology to accurately identify the DNA and blood found on the bodies. His social, educational environment, as well as his disability are also «aggravating» factors, but he is satisfied to have been proven innocent. He received extensive financial compensation from the government, the amount of which was not disclosed to the public, and thanks to this outlandish criminal case, the limitation period in first degree murder cases was abolished. As for LEE, in addition to the ten murders, he confessed to four others, as well as about thirty rapes and attempted assaults that could potentially have resulted in murders.
There are documentaries, including from the CNA, dealing with this case, as well as the Korean film «Memories of Murder» by BONG JOONHO, with SONG KANGHO and KIM SANGKYUNG in the lead roles, released in 2003. This case proves that once again, despite serious mistakes, justice eventually triumphs, and the justice system continues to progress, even if justice is not found to be irreproachable, as evidenced by YOON.
Journalist: Pillet Anaïs
Translator: Pillet Anaïs
Sources: KSTATION TV, see under pic
