True Crime

The #MeToo movement pulled back the curtain on toxic work cultures in the entertainment industry — exposing how powerful men exploited women behind the scenes. In the United States, the fall of Harvey Weinstein became a defining moment, leading to convictions and a broader reckoning in Hollywood. But in South Korea, there is a case that never reached that point. Related article: Credits Reporting...

"His Excellency doesn't allow his second-in-command to live." In the 2020 movie "The Man Standing Next," the character Park Yong-gak, based on former Korean Central Intelligence Agency chief Kim Hyung-wook, utters the ominous line about then-President Park Chung-hee. Kim, once at the pinnacle of power, went missing after last being seen at a hotel casino in Paris on Oct. 7, 1979. This episode delv...

Human fascination with mysticism and the afterlife has endured for millennia -- from protective spells in ancient Mesopotamia to prohibitions against magic in the Hebrew Bible, from necromancy in folklore across cultures to the hysteria of the Salem witch trials, where more than 200 people were accused of witchcraft. Today, few people would still believe it is truly possible to cast a curse or sum...

Lee Young-hak was once the darling of South Korea. The public gave him the nickname "Molar Daddy" after the rare disease, known as gigantiform cementoma, that caused disfigurement of his and his daughter's mouths. But a horrifying truth was uncovered a decade later. In 2017, the nation was stunned by the news that the once-beloved Molar Daddy was facing murder and sexual assault char...

Countless murders have occurred in this world. Some driven by rage, others by revenge or by money. But what if someone kills without hatred, without greed, claiming instead that they did it out of love? What if the victims were not strangers, but one’s own parents, wife and children? This episode is about a man who killed his entire family, believing he was protecting them from future hardship. Re...

In May 2000, in South Korea, a young man from what appeared to be an ordinary, middle-class family murdered both of his parents. He was 23, enrolled at one of the country’s top universities, and had never shown signs of violence. As investigators dug deeper, the case shifted from a question of how the crime happened to why. What emerged was a childhood shaped by crushing expectations, constant com...

For nearly 20 years, one detail defined two notorious murder cases in Seoul’s Sinjeong-dong — a sticker of a cute bunny character called Mashimaro. It shaped public memory, media narratives and online speculation. But police now say it was the wrong clue. This episode reexamines what really happened in Sinjeong-dong in 2005, and how public attention blurred unrelated crimes, a truth only uncovered...

In South Korea, one of the most closely watched societies in the world, almost every murder is solved. Almost. Fifteen years ago, in a secure high-rise outside Seoul, a murderer walked away unseen. This episode revisits the 2010 killing of an elderly woman in her spacious 14th-floor apartment home, a case that even pervasive surveillance failed to solve. Related article : https://www.koreaherald.c...

In the early summer of 2019, a husband joined his wife and several of her friends on a trip to a valley in Gapyeong, South Korea. What should have been a carefree getaway turned deadly when the husband drowned. In this episode, we explore the Gapyeong valley murder case that shocked South Korea in 2020. A story of blind love, a toxic relationship and psychological manipulation by Lee Eun-hae, a wo...

An abandoned quarry. A man, nailed to a cross. Around Easter 2011, a grotesque death shocked South Korea. Could this be the act of an eccentric cult? As investigators dug deeper into the haunting case, the story unfolded in unexpected ways — the man seems to have meticulously planned his own crucifixion. Related article: https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10598860 Credits Reporting, writing: Yoon...

Why do some killers become household names, while others fade into obscurity — despite committing crimes just as horrifying? In this episode, we uncover the chilling story of Kim Dae-doo, South Korea’s first known serial killer. Unlike the infamous figures immortalized in films and crime blogs, Kim’s name barely registers today, even though he brutally murdered 17 people, including a 3-month-old b...

On a chilly Wednesday evening in November 2003, 14-year-old Eom Hyun-ah set out on a familiar shortcut home through the quiet outskirts of a village in South Korea. It was a dark, rarely traveled path, but one she had walked many times before. This time, she never returned. What began as a routine walk quickly turned into a haunting mystery that would grip the nation and leave a family desperate f...

In the early 1990s, five young boys set out on a forest excursion and never came home. Their sudden disappearance sent shockwaves across South Korea. Their faces became impossible to avoid, plastered everywhere from milk cartons to detergent boxes. It was a story that no Korean who lived through that era could escape. In this episode of True Crime, we take you back to March 1991, when five boys my...

Have you ever imagined what it would be like to glimpse someone’s final moments, before life slips away? It’s a disturbing thought, but death makes headlines. In 1982, a South Korean photographer was consumed by the desire to witness and capture death. He believed death could be art — a provocative, forbidden form that would make his name known worldwide. Related article : https://www.koreaherald....