SBS to examine why domestic violence reports failed to prevent Songpa killing

SBS’s Curious Story Y will examine why earlier domestic violence reports and police inquiries failed to prevent a man from killing his mother-in-law and abducting his wife in Songpa. The episode, airing Friday the 16th at 8:50 p.m., will also investigate prolonged abuse in a high school vocational skills training group.

The fatal attack occurred at about 5:30 a.m. on October 11 in an alley outside a residential area in Songpa. Residents reportedly awoke to urgent screams and looked out of their windows. A woman in her 50s lay bloodied after being stabbed, while a man dragged a younger woman away.

A resident who witnessed the scene reported it, but the older woman died. The man forced the younger woman into a car and drove away. He was identified as Kim, the older woman’s son-in-law; the woman he abducted was his wife, identified by the pseudonym Park.

Park struggled to recount the day to the production team. She said Kim continued verbally abusing her inside the car and told her:

“I went to a private detective agency and watched everywhere your mother, father and younger sibling went. I parked a car outside the house for two weeks and lived there. And I was planning to kill both your mother and father…”

According to Park, Kim had been violent since they were dating and forced her to register their marriage. After killing her mother and putting her in the car, he reportedly said, “Let’s go get some fresh air.” He told her reporting him to police would be useless and described plans to harm her family.

The car was found on a mountainside in Gangwon Province, 200 kilometers away. During seven hours on the run, Kim repeatedly threatened Park, telling her they should go over a cliff together.

Kim had already been reported to police on suspicion of domestic violence. An account included in the source described repeated requests for swift action being met with instructions to wait. Questions about why Kim had not been questioned reportedly drew the same response, with the speaker saying the delays continued until the tragedy occurred.

Although a police investigation had begun, Kim reportedly kept postponing his appearance, offering various excuses. An attempted search of his home also fell through because he did not show up.

After repeated assaults and threats, Park fled her husband. The order barring Kim from approaching her had expired, and she was awaiting the outcome of an application to renew it when her mother was attacked while coming to meet her.

Kim claimed his crime was unplanned. Curious Story Y will meet the bereaved family and investigate why he was not stopped, asking whether the killing could have been prevented.

The program’s second investigation asks whether the transfer of vocational skills became a pretext for violence at a high school, where a second-year student identified by the pseudonym Seong-hyeon suffered abuse that his family had not known about.

Seong-hyeon had always smiled brightly around his family. Recently, however, relatives saw a disturbing video showing a baseball bat being swung at him as he crouched, followed by jabs to his abdomen as he lay on the floor. He was also reportedly beaten while restrained with tape over his mouth, and suffered burns when a drink can heated with a lighter was pressed against his ankle.

In the assault footage, Seong-hyeon was smiling. He said he had to force himself to smile because any change in his expression would bring another beating.

“The moment I saw it, all the strength drained from my arms and legs. I couldn’t control what I was feeling, my heart sank, and anger came burning up inside me,” his grandmother said.

The perpetrators were older students and classmates. Seong-hyeon depended on older students to teach him skills in the school’s vocational training group, which helps explain why he could not seek help from his family or the school.

He had initially chosen the school with only a general intention of finding employment. Later, he developed a specific ambition: to compete in an international skills competition and win a medal. He joined the training group to pursue that goal, but instead encountered severe violence and bullying under the pretext of instruction. He said he endured it because he feared reporting the abuse would also cost him his dream.

“Go ahead and tell a teacher you’re being bullied. If you tell, who will teach you the skills then?” Seong-hyeon recalled older students saying.

The violence and mistreatment continued over a long period, yet the school’s protective measures were not properly implemented. The incidents occurred in dormitories or practical training rooms, raising questions about why teachers failed to notice violence taking place on school grounds.

Curious Story Y will investigate the abuse and why Seong-hyeon was not protected within a hierarchy between older and younger students built around the teaching of vocational skills. Both investigations will air on SBS on Friday the 16th at 8:50 p.m.

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