Korea has been shocked by the case of a teenage murderer who revealed the grisly details of his crime on social media. On the day of the murder, the suspect sent images of his crime and the victim’s body to his friends via Kakaotalk and even announced on his profile page that he “felt no guilt or remorse”. An increasing number of stories about young criminals has raised public concern about the phenomenon of the “savage teenager”. After professional criminal psychologists announced that the suspect is likely a “sociopath” (소시오패스), distinct from a “psychopath” (사이코패스), the word “sociopath” became one of the most popular search terms on all portal sites.
Article from TV Chosun:
Teenage Murderer in Young-In Gave Several Hints before Gruesome Murder
by Park Sang-hyun
(Anchor) Did Oh Won-chun appear again? Society is reeling in shock at the details in the case of a teenage murderer. TV Chosun has an exclusive interview with the suspect’s friend, “Choi”, who was with him just before the horrible crime. The suspect “Sim” seemed sociopathic rather than psychopathic.
(Reporter) According to “Choi”, a friend of the suspect, on July 8th he spoke with “Sim” and the female victim before leaving the hotel where they were staying. It was then that he received a horrifying message from Sim with images of dismembered body parts.
Sim said, “I am doing something.. I did something about her. I need more tools. I will finish by 12 a.m. tomorrow.” But Choi didn’t get the exact meaning of what Sim said.
Choi has since confessed that Sim alluded to his intentions to commit murder quite a long time ago, and he also said something about murder on the day of the crime.
Last year, Sim also said, “I am curious what will happen if I kill somebody.” To Choi, Sim sounded like he was making a joke when he asked him “What would you think if I kill one?” Choi didn’t see any clear motivation for murder in Sim.
Sim called not only Choi but also another friend, “Lee”, to confess his crime.
According to his Lee, Sim said in a quiet tone that he had killed her.
Some professional analysts diagnosed his behavior as typical of a “sociopath”, someone who has no sensitivity to violence or cruelty. Others said that his lack of hesitation in informing his friends about his crimes reflected the fact that he had lost all contact with them after he dropped out of school.
Lee Soo-jeong, a criminal psychology professor, said that “his behavior was just part of his daily routine. Because he is part of the social media generation, they usually share their all their emotion on social websites.”
The police issued a warrant for Sim’s arrest on suspicion of murder and announced that his friend “Choi” was no longer the target of the investigation.
The Timeline of the Murder
1. July 8th, 5:28 a.m. – Sim, 19, and his friend Choi, 19, went to a hotel.
2. 3:30 p.m.- Sim asked a girl he knew, aged 17, to come to the hotel.
3. 4:00 p.m.- Sim buys two knives, one of them a letter opener and the other a thick chopping blade.
4. 7:38 p.m.- Sim’s friend Choi leaves the hotel.
5. 9:00 p.m.- Sim sexually assaults the girl and then strangles her to death
6. For a period of 16 hours after killing the girl, Sim dismembers the body with the chopping knife, breaking the knife in the process. He leaves the room to buy one more knife at 1:37 a.m.
7. July 9th, 1:34 p.m.- At the nearest market, Sim buys a big plastic bag, originally intended for making kimchi.
8. 2:07 p.m.- Sim returns to his home by taxi after putting the corpse into the plastic bag.
9. 8:10 p.m.- The girl’s parents, who lived in Singapore, checked and found out that their daughter was not at home and then reported her to the police
10. July 10th, 12:30 a.m.- As the police search closes in, Sim turns himself in to the police and is placed under arrest.
Comments from TV chosun :
jyl**:
Is there any reason to keep him alive?
ysh****:
The emphasis on studying without any concern for improving personality leads to this disastrous outcome..
syu****:
An eye for an eye
Comments from Nate :
rlac****:
Is he even human? He is a son of bitch. Judge, please appease a vengeful spirit. He must be sentenced to death.
tjdm****:
He is not human.. I sincerely hope that high officials will give him the death penalty. If not, he will do the same horrible thing at the end of his prison sentence.
n-rh****:
Any human rights commission should be destroyed if they say just a word about “human rights”
wooc****:
Just the death penalty? I think it is still insufficient. If there were an afterlife, he should be hacked to pieces there as well.
jebi****:
Do you remember the reason that the merciful judge reduced the sentence for Oh Won-chun, who dismembered his victim into 500 pieces? The reason was that he didn’t use them for human flesh trafficking. Following the precedent, Sim will also not be sentenced to death. At this point, the judge should be blamed and insulted. Fucking psychopathic judge!!
woo3*****:
I couldn’t even watch the very first scene of the movie “Hostel”. However, it looks like decided to imitate the movie. I think he is the devil. He is not a human being. He should be sentenced to death.
jang****:
If I were the father of that girl, I would kill him brutally, even more horribly than he killed my daughter.
ykim****:
Yesterday, in the morning news, I heard that an elementary student was running porn sites. And after I left the office, I heard that a teenager psychopath raped a girl and dismembered her body with a knife and then disposed of the body in the toilet. It’s time to get rid of the Juvenile and Minors Protection Act. Instead of special protections for children, I feel like adults need to be protected from savage teenagers.
ravi**** :
Stop playing with words, I don’t care whether he is a psychopath or a sociopath. Please kill him painfully yet slowly with the same knife he used. Chop his every joint while he is still alive.
gums*****:
Abolishing the death penalty and establishing the Human Rights Commission, courtesy of Kim Dae-jung, former president of Korea. These two things made our country into a paradise for brutal criminals.
whkk****:
I think I must be a psychopath because I would be able to kill him with a smile. Seriously..
scc****:
If he had killed the daughter of the president, then would you give him the death penalty? It makes me afraid..
