"'GeuAl' Production Team Reveals Behind-the-Scenes of Hwaseong Murder Case: 'Lee Chun-jae, New Truths Emerged After Confession'"

Photo by SBS 'Unanswered Questions'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jeong-ho] The elementary school student murder case, which gained attention due to serial killer Lee Chun-jae's confession of murder on the program "Unanswered Questions," is being reexamined.

On the afternoon of the 25th, SBS's "Unanswered Questions" (hereafter "Unanswered") will cover the Hwaseong elementary school student disappearance case under the title "The Murderer's Confession and the Missing Corpse." Additionally, the production team pursues the truth of the case through Lee Chun-jae's first emotional confession since the incident.

A serial killer confessed to killing his daughter who had gone missing 30 years ago. It was a moment when a father's hope, which he had never let go of, shattered into pieces. The father, who had something important to say to the murderer who killed his youngest daughter, headed to Busan Prison on July 15th with his son to meet him in person. The murderer who accepted the visitation request was none other than Lee Chun-jae, identified as the culprit of the Hwaseong serial murder case in October 2019.

The answers Lee Chun-jae gave following the difficult questions contained information never heard before anywhere else.

Lee Chun-jae stated that when he confessed to additional crimes, he had gone up a mountain to commit suicide but happened to meet an elementary school student and talked with the child. He then tied the child's wrist with a jump rope taken out of a shoe bag and committed the crime. Every story heard from the mouth of the murderer who brutally killed the family was far more cruel than the 30 years of waiting without hope.

The production team revealed, "Since the murderer opened his mouth, the newly revealed truths have shed light on accomplices who concealed his murders," arousing viewers' curiosity.

The elementary school student murder case confessed by Lee Chun-jae was initially reported as a disappearance. On July 7, 1989, in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, Kim Hyun-jung, then a second grader in elementary school, went missing, and the case was soon closed as a "simple runaway."

Five months after the disappearance, in December of the same year, villagers discovered a school bag containing a notebook labeled "2nd grade, class 3, Kim Hyun-jung," along with shoes and clothes, in a nearby mountain. However, the family was never informed of this, and it was only after 30 years that they learned that Kim Hyun-jung's belongings had existed.

That was not all. The neighborhood watch captain, who searched the area with detectives after the belongings were found, shared an unbelievable story. Through the production team, the captain said, "Just guessing, it seems like an arm," and added, "It should be considered tied (with the jump rope), there was something red like that." This indicated that bones tied with a jump rope were found during the search.

However, no records related to this were left anywhere. The police, who not only failed to reinvestigate but also kept all these facts secret, avoided answering, claiming that the investigators at the time did not remember the details.

While the family endured painful times without confirming Kim Hyun-jung's life or death, the other culprits who concealed the murder were none other than the police who should have solved the case. For Kim Hyun-jung's family, this story is only beginning now. Will the truth hidden in the forest of secrets for the past 30 years be revealed?

Meanwhile, "Unanswered Questions" airs every Saturday night at 11:10 PM.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.