It turns out that the same individual was behind four murderous attacks on rich and elderly people last fall and later the murders of 10 female masseuses. He would call the masseuses to his house, where he would murder them and mutilate their bodies, and having been arrested for that spree, he confessed to killing the rich and elderly last year. He's accused of murdering 19 people in 8 months, and he says there's more.

This unprecedentedly horrific series of murders took place right in the center of Seoul. The suspect had a difficult upbringing and has a hard personal history, including 14 previous convictions, but even that doesn't explain his crimes. He says it was all because of hate for the rich and women, but he chose only elderly persons who could not fight back and women who were vulnerable when telephoned with opportunities to earn money. He was thorough about destroying evidence. It's too much to just call an expression of anger towards society by someone society had abandoned. You have to call it a psychotic atrocity, something no human could do to another.

This case could easily have forever remained a mystery had not someone tipped off police and the suspect confessed. Investigating serial murders committed against random numbers of people, as opposed to crimes of a personal nature such as revenge, are not easy. But it is definitely a problem that they didn't investigate properly when over a period of two weeks around 10 call masseuses from a specific establishment never returned. Had they connected the dots in the missing persons cases they would've been able to reduce the number of women who lost their lives. There needs to be a thorough crackdown on illegal businesses involved in various forms of selling sex, and there needs to be an investigation into whether businesses have been filing lost persons reports like they should.

Korea's is a society of intense competition. There isn't the time to watch out for one's neighbor. No one takes interest in what happens next door. One has to ask the fundamental question of whether perhaps this has alienated our neighbor and turned a human being into an extraordinary killer.

The Hankyoreh, 19 July 2004.

[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]