Ichunjae "I am the real culprit of the serial murders"... 8th case court witness

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] Lee Chun-jae, the true culprit of the Hwaseong serial murder case, admitted, "I am the real culprit of the case." At the trial of the 'Lee Chun-jae 8th Case' held on the afternoon of the 2nd at the Suwon District Court's 12th Criminal Division (Presiding Judge Park Jeong-je), Lee Chun-jae, who appeared as a witness, testified that "I am indeed the true culprit of the 10 serial murder cases that occurred in Hwaseong."

The 'Lee Chun-jae 8th Case' refers to the incident on September 16, 1988, in Jinan-ri, Taean-eup, Hwaseong-gun, Gyeonggi Province, where Park Mo (then 13 years old, middle school student) was sexually assaulted and murdered. The following year, Yoon, who was arrested as the suspect, was sentenced to life imprisonment in the first trial but denied the charges, claiming "I made a false confession under police coercion." However, the second and third trial courts dismissed this claim. Yoon, who served 20 years and was paroled in 2009, filed for a retrial last November after Lee Chun-jae's confession.

Earlier, the court decided to summon Lee Chun-jae to the courtroom after a ruling in September stated that the DNA from the hair found at the scene, which was crucial evidence in this controversy, was damaged due to 30 years of time, making analysis impossible. This marked the appearance of the true culprit 34 years after the first murder in 1986.

On that day, Lee Chun-jae expressed his feelings, saying, "I thought the time had finally come" after the police reopened the investigation last year. When asked if he thought of his family during the reinvestigation, he said, "Everything just passed by like a fleeting thought."

Lee Chun-jae explained that when the police came to the prison and questioned him based on DNA analysis results, he confessed to all 14 murder cases he committed in Hwaseong and Cheongju in the 1980s. He also mentioned that after confessing to the cases, he lost contact with his family.

Meanwhile, the court did not allow photography or video recording by the media, stating that Lee Chun-jae was only a witness. However, considering the high public interest in Lee Chun-jae's testimony, the court arranged not only the main courtroom with 88 seats (operating 44 seats due to social distancing) but also one separate relay courtroom to allow as many spectators as possible to attend the trial.

The witness examination is scheduled to proceed for two hours each by the defense and prosecution. Including breaks, the trial is expected to continue until 6 p.m. that day.

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