Yonhap News
Curiosity is a nasty flaw, and our protagonist of the month seems to have tried to prove the adage in the cruellest way.
You readers, who are reading this article, are undoubtedly amateurs of true crimes and other sordid affairs that highlight the abuses of our society. Seemingly sweet and innocent, JUNG YOOJUNG is a fervent addict of this content sometimes priming ultra-violence, and feels from time to time excitement during her many views. Like other murderers before her, she scored highly on the sociopathic test, and quickly became famous as the fan who killed «out of curiosity».
Early 2023. YOOJUNG is then 23 years old, and registers on various tutoring sites in order to meet English teachers with whom to exchange to strengthen her learning. But this search for teachers actually hides a much more sordid and visceral desire, that of murder. When the case made headlines in Korea, the student was described as being solitary and methodical, having spent several months sifting through sites to find her perfect prey. She contacted no less than fifty people, and ended up choosing a 26-year-old whose personal information such as name and gender was not disclosed.
On May 26, 2023, she presents herself by message as the mother of a 13-year-old student who wishes to take English classes in support of the courses received at school, the victim living in the South region of Busan city. When the latter agreed to give lessons and invited the teenager to her home, she was probably surprised to discover YOOJUNG on the doorstep, a woman in her twenties dressed in a school uniform. Without waiting a second, the attacker jumps on them and gives them a hundred stab wounds, and autopsies revealed that the stabs continued even after the victim died.
According to the police, YOOJUNG had been searching for months on the internet for possible methods of killing someone, and how to get rid of a corpse. She then chooses to cut it into several pieces, in order to put her body in a suitcase that she threw in a forest. But she forgot to take precautions, and crossed the city with her bloody suitcase in front of surveillance cameras, probably proving her guilt. This crime shocked Korea, the people realizing that violence leads to violence and that anyone could be killed in cold blood.
Trying to escape the death penalty, YOOJUNG began by pleading insanity with hallucinations, a classic step for murderers hoping to escape the justice system. However, as the intent was retained, she changed her version of events and explained that someone had killed the victim, and that she had only moved the body, then in reality she had argued with the victim and killed her by accident. Finally, she stated that her passion for true crimes had made her want to “try”.
After the murder, YOOJUNG allegedly went out to buy garbage bags and bleach, and while she cut up her victim’s lifeless body, she did not forget to cut off their fingertips in order to remove their fingerprints, as she had read on the internet. In addition, take a taxi to the undergrowth with the suitcase from which blood escaped alerted the driver who notified the police.
Thus, in November 2023, she was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, desecration and abandonment of a corpse. Public opinion then addressed the issue of true crimes, which could incite deviant acts, a debate already discussed with video games for example that advocate violence according to some among younger people. On this subject, behavioral scientist COLTAN SCRIVNER stated in an article for “A&E True Crime”:
“It takes a lot of additional personality traits and predispositions in order for someone to actually commit a murder. Maybe, combined with many other things, [an obsession with true crime] could be somewhat predictive—but so are a lot of traits.”
Although YOOJUNG seems to have a rather high morbid curiosity, we should not set aside her high score on the psychopathy test, which would undoubtedly have led her to commit more murders if she had not been caught in her first time. Representing a certain danger, YOOJUNG must not only spend the rest of her life behind bars, but also wear an electronic bracelet for thirty years to check her whereabouts if she ever gets out of prison, being eligible for parole after 20 years from the date of judgment. She also sent 19 letters of apology to the victim’s family, but the judge refused to reduce her sentence saying that the letters seemed false in the sense that YOOJUNG did not seem to feel any regret during the trial.
At this trial, the court stated that the motive for murder should be: “a feeling of resentment and anger toward her family, helplessness due to continued failures such as college entrance and employment and admiration for the lives of others.” The idea that a woman can be a murderous psychopath is usually foreign to the human mind, because of the maternal aspect often attributed to women. However, 1/6 serial killers would actually be women, and among them, 39% would work in medicine or with children, according to MARISSA HARRISON, psychology professor and author of “Just as Deadly: The Psychology of Female Serial Killers”.
Nevertheless, although this does not excuse their acts and killings, the vast majority of female killers have suffered severe childhood trauma such as physical or sexual violence. One of the most famous cases of serial killer women is the American AILEEN WUORNOS, explained MARISSA HARRISON, who witnessed her father’s suicide, was abandoned by her mother after being raped by her grandfather, and had incestuous relationships with her brother. These traumas can partly explain the violence and anger that these women feel towards other people, but do not explain the murder of YOOJUNG who was not in these extremes.
What do you think of this “trend” of true crimes? Is it something that fascinates or scares you? Do you think YOOJUNG deserves parole? Let us know in a comment!
Journalist : Pillet Anaïs
Photos : Sous les images
Sources : KSTATION TV
