"Committing Crimes Like a Moth to a Flame" Serial Killer Lee Chun-jae, Is His Apology Genuine? [Seunggon Han's Case Notes]

Lee Chun-jae Appears as Witness in 8th Case Retrial
"I Committed All 14 Serial Murders"
"I Wish Eternal Rest for Victims Who Died Because of Me"
"Apologies to Bereaved Families and All Related Parties"
'Sincerity of Apology' Controversy... Expert Says "He May Enjoy Being in the Media Spotlight"'

Lee Chun-jae (56), who was selected as a witness for the retrial of the 8th serial murder case, appeared in court on the afternoon of the 2nd. The photo shows Lee Chun-jae attending and testifying in court. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Seung-gon] Lee Chun-jae (56), the perpetrator of the 'Lee Chun-jae Serial Murder Case,' considered the worst unsolved case in violent crime history, appeared as a witness in court on the 2nd and admitted to 14 counts of serial murder and 35 counts of rape charges and suspicions. He expressed his apologies to the victims. However, whether Lee Chun-jae's apology is sincere remains a kind of unresolved issue.

Although he had time to express remorse during his imprisonment for over a decade, he did not do so, and only admitted to the crimes after the investigation agencies proved the charges regarding the serial murder case.

The statute of limitations for each case has expired, so he cannot be punished. In this situation, some criticize that apologizing to the victims and their families is not genuinely understandable. There are accusations of a double standard.

Lee Chun-jae's behavior in some cases supports such criticism. Currently, Lee Chun-jae is serving a life sentence for raping and brutally murdering his sister-in-law. At the time of his arrest, Lee strongly denied his charges. He also caused confusion in the investigation by denying any connection to the serial murders in the Hwaseong area of Gyeonggi Province that he committed. He showed no remorse by repeatedly appealing and filing petitions regarding the sister-in-law murder case.

Ultimately, it is argued that Lee Chun-jae's nature is to admit to criminal charges and utter appropriate words only when cornered, and that his current apology was made because he was forced into a situation where he had no choice but to apologize. A criminal psychology expert analyzed that Lee Chun-jae's apology lacks sincerity.

On the 2nd, a transport vehicle presumed to be carrying Lee Chun-jae, who was selected as a witness for the 9th retrial hearing of the 8th serial murder case of Lee Chun-jae, is arriving at the Suwon District Court in Yeongtong-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

◆ "I pray for the eternal rest of the victims who died because of me, and I apologize to the bereaved families and all those involved in the case"

On the afternoon of the 2nd, Lee Chun-jae appeared in court for the 8th retrial of the 'Lee Chun-jae Serial Murder Case,' held under the jurisdiction of the Suwon District Court Criminal Division 11 (Presiding Judge Park Jeong-je). He answered questions from the petitioner's lawyers regarding the motive and admission of the crimes.

Lee Chun-jae claimed that the murders were not premeditated but committed impulsively. Regarding the reason for killing the victims, he said, "I have not yet found an answer," adding, "I did not have any plan or thought; I committed the crimes like a moth drawn to a flame."

Regarding the 'signature'?a kind of common trace left by the perpetrator during the crime, such as mutilation and disposal of the bodies?he dismissed it as an act to avoid police investigation rather than a planned behavior.

Lee Chun-jae said, "The main purpose of binding was to suppress resistance, and the gag was to stop sounds," adding, "Putting underwear over the face was done when the victim seemed likely to recognize my identity (face, etc.)."

When the defense asked about the 8th retrial and the missing elementary school student case between the 8th and 9th incidents in Hwaseong, as well as the '12+2' murder cases and '19+15' rape and attempted rape cases he confessed to during police investigation, asking, "Did you confess while writing it yourself?" he replied, "Yes, I did all of them."

At the end of the trial, he also expressed his apology to the victims and their families affected by his crimes. Lee Chun-jae said, "I sincerely apologize to Mr. Yoon, who was wrongfully imprisoned due to the murder cases I committed," and "I pray for the eternal rest of the victims who died because of me, and I apologize to the bereaved families and all those involved in the case."

Serial killer Lee Chun-jae. The photo on the left is a composite sketch of Lee Chun-jae created by investigative agencies at the time of the incidents in the 1980s. On the right is a photo of Lee Chun-jae during his high school years. [Image source=Yonhap News]

◆ Is Lee Chun-jae's apology sincere? He admitted charges only after the serial murders were uncovered

However, there are criticisms that his apology lacks sincerity. Previously, Lee Chun-jae showed no remorse, denying charges even after brutally murdering his sister-in-law in 1994.

This has led to accusations that he lacks empathy or has no intention of apologizing to the victims. Although he expressed remorse to the victims of the serial murders 26 years after the incident, critics say it is merely a pretense of apology.

The so-called 'Cheongju Sister-in-Law Murder Case' refers to the incident where Lee Chun-jae gave sleeping pills to his sister-in-law, sexually assaulted her, and brutally murdered her. According to the first and second trial rulings, Lee married his wife in April 1992, one year after the 10th Hwaseong serial murder incident (April 1991).

He was an excavator operator and met his wife, who worked at an aggregate extraction company, and started a family. Lee Chun-jae was known to have a good relationship with his in-laws.

However, according to the second trial ruling, the court viewed Lee as "introverted but having a temper that even his parents could not control once he got angry." He locked his son in a room and beat him indiscriminately, and threw an ashtray at his wife and assaulted her violently for being ignored in front of others.

On the afternoon of January 13, 1994, Lee Chun-jae called his sister-in-law home, telling her to "bring the toaster," and prepared a drink with sleeping pills for her to consume. However, before the sleeping pills took effect, when the sister-in-law tried to leave saying she had promised to go to church with a friend, he sexually assaulted her.

He then killed her by hitting her with a blunt weapon, wrapped and tied the body with a black plastic bag, the sister-in-law's clothes, and stockings belonging to the sister-in-law and his wife, and abandoned it. When arrested by the police, Lee denied the charges and repeatedly appealed and filed petitions, denying the rape and murder of his sister-in-law until the end.

Despite committing such a brutal crime, some residents in Jinan 1-ri, Taean-eup, Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi Province (now Jinan-dong, Hwaseong-si) reportedly remember Lee Chun-jae as a 'good young man.' He showed a dual nature, appearing as an ordinary young man while secretly committing horrific serial murders. This is why there are criticisms doubting the sincerity of Lee Chun-jae's apology to the victims.

Flowers placed at the site where belongings of the missing elementary student in Hwaseong were found [Image source=Yonhap News]

Experts point out that the process by which Lee Chun-jae admitted to his crimes makes it inevitable to doubt whether he sincerely apologized to the victims and their families.

Oh Yoon-sung, a professor of police administration at Soonchunhyang University, said, "Lee Chun-jae initially denied the serial murder cases, but later admitted to the crimes only after the statute of limitations expired and he could not be punished," criticizing that he did not reflect on his crimes. Regarding the 8th case retrial, he analyzed, "He might be internally enjoying the situation where this is being reported in the media."

Meanwhile, Lee Chun-jae was arrested for murdering his sister-in-law in Cheongju, Chungbuk, in 1994 and abandoning the body, and was sentenced to life imprisonment in July 1995, currently serving his sentence.

Last August, the Unsolved Cases Team of the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency confirmed that DNA detected from the belongings of the Hwaseong serial murder victims matched Lee Chun-jae's, and dispatched profilers to obtain his confession.

The 8th case retrial involves the incident on September 16, 1988, in Taean-eup, Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi Province (then Hwaseong-gun), where Park (then 13 years old) was sexually assaulted and murdered at her home. The police identified Yoon Seong-yeo (53), who worked at a nearby agricultural tool factory, as the suspect and obtained a confession.

Yoon was sentenced to life imprisonment in the first trial and appealed, claiming the confession was false due to police coercion, but the second and third trial courts dismissed all appeals. Yoon, who spent 20 years wrongfully imprisoned, was released on parole in August 2009. Later, it was revealed that Lee Chun-jae committed the 8th case, and Yoon filed for a retrial at the Suwon District Court in November last year.

Lee Chun-jae was identified as the true culprit who committed 14 murders and 9 rapes from September 15, 1989, to April 3, 1991. However, the statute of limitations for murder, which is 15 years, has expired, so he cannot be punished.

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