"What's There to Complain About Living in an Expensive House?"... Apartment Where Choi Won-jong, Involved in 'Seohyeon Station Stabbing Rampage,' Lived Revealed

Information on Sale Prices Spreads After 'PD Subech' Broadcast

Choi Won-jong (22), who caused 14 casualties in the 'Bundang Seohyeon Station stabbing incident,' has had his apartment and sale price, where he lived alone, revealed.

On the 29th of last month, MBC's 'PD Notebook' aired an episode titled 'There Is No Random Crime: Murderers on the Road,' covering recent indiscriminate stabbing incidents.

The exterior (left) and interior views of the apartment where the weapon-wielding assailant Choi Won-jong lives [Photo source=MBC ‘PD Notebook’ broadcast screen]

PD Notebook revealed the apartment where Choi Won-jong, who committed the Bundang Seohyeon Station stabbing incident, lived. It was found that Choi lived alone for over a year in an apartment just a 2-minute drive from Seohyeon Station, where he committed the crime. The police had previously reported that Choi lived alone due to conflicts with his family.

The interior of Choi's home, as shown on 'PD Notebook,' was modest but maintained a neat appearance.

The apartment security guard said, "Since he was a resident, he basically greeted us," and added, "He lived quietly without causing any trouble." The guard explained, "His mother lived in another neighborhood and came and went," and "Only the son lived alone."

Although the broadcast did not focus on this apartment, immediately after airing, information such as the name of the apartment complex where Choi lived and its sale price quickly spread on online communities.

According to Naver Real Estate, the sale price for a 20-pyeong (approximately 66 square meters) apartment in this complex ranges from 1 to 1.1 billion KRW, and the jeonse (long-term deposit lease) price is around 400 to 500 million KRW.

Viewers reacted to the fact that Choi Won-jong, who dropped out of high school and worked as a delivery worker, lived in a house worth about 1 billion KRW at the age of 22, saying, "What grievances did he have living in such an expensive house?" "He's a gold spoon," and "Whether rent or purchase, it's above middle class."

Choi Won-jong, the assailant involved in the stabbing incident at Seohyeon Station, is responding to reporters' questions as he leaves the detention center of Seongnam Sujeong Police Station and heads to the transport vehicle for transfer to the prosecution. Photo by Heo Young-han younghan@

On the afternoon of the 3rd of last month, at around 5:56 PM, Choi Won-jong is accused of driving a vehicle toward pedestrians in front of AK Plaza Department Store in Seohyeon-dong, Bundang-gu, Seongnam City, connected to Suin-Bundang Line Seohyeon Station, then getting out of the car with a weapon and wildly swinging it at citizens. As a result, 2 people died and 12 were injured.

The Scientific Investigation Division of the Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Agency announced that from the 6th of last month, they conducted a Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) test on Choi Won-jong but concluded that measurement was not possible.

The psychopathy diagnosis test, consisting of 20 items (40 points), quantifies personality traits of psychopaths such as coldness, impulsivity, lack of empathy, and irresponsibility. In South Korea, scoring over 25 points classifies a person as a psychopath.

The police explained, "Choi Won-jong has been diagnosed with schizoid personality disorder and paranoia was confirmed," adding, "It was impossible to score detailed items related to interpersonal and emotional problems among the psychopathy evaluation factors."

The police believe that after being diagnosed with schizoid personality disorder in 2020, Choi did not receive any treatment and committed the crime while suffering from paranoia. It is understood that he showed extreme aggression as a means of protecting himself.

However, considering that Choi had academic abilities sufficient to invest in stocks and do computer programming, and that he searched once for 'diminished mental capacity mitigation' a few days before the crime, the police judged that Choi did not commit the crime in a state of diminished mental capacity.

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