# Lee Choon-jae

Lee Choon-jae (Korean: 이춘재; born 31 January 1963), also known as the Hwaseong Murderer, is a South Korean serial killer known for committing the Hwaseong serial murders (Korean: 화성 연쇄 살인 사건; Hanja: 華城連鎖殺人事件; RR: hwaseong yeonswae sarin sageon). Between 1986 and 1994, Lee murdered fifteen women and girls in addition to committing numerous sexual assaults, predominantly in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, and the surrounding areas. The murders, which remained unsolved for thirty years, are considered to be the most infamous in modern South Korean history and were the inspiration for the 2003 film Memories of Murder.
Lee was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after twenty years for killing his sister-in-law in 1994, but despite DNA evidence and his confession to the other murders in 2019, he could not be prosecuted for them because the statute of limitations had expired.

## Early life

Lee Choon-jae was born in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, on 31 January 1963. According to his mother, he had a good education and worked well with others. Lee had a younger brother who drowned in his childhood, an incident which purportedly traumatized him.
After graduating from high school in February 1983, Lee joined the Republic of Korea Army and served as a tank driver; he was discharged in January 1986. In 1990 he began working for a construction company as an unlicensed crane operator in Cheongpa-dong, Yongsan District, Seoul. The following year, he was employed as a crane driver for a company in Cheongwon, North Chungcheong Province, which he ultimately quit in March 1993. In April 1992, Lee married an administrator and had a son with her. However, Lee was a violent alcoholic who often physically abused his wife and child.
On 26 September 1989, Lee broke into a house in Suwon and was discovered by the landlord. He was sentenced by the Suwon District Court to one year and six months' imprisonment in the first trial in February 1990 for the charges of robbery and violence. After the first trial, Lee filed an appeal, claiming that he was beaten by an unknown young man and entered the victim's house while being chased. In the second trial, the court suspended Lee's sentence to two years' probation. He was released in April 1990.

## Hwaseong serial murders

For a period of four years and seven months, between September 15, 1986, and April 3, 1991, Lee Choon-jae, then in his twenties, committed the Hwaseong serial murders (Korean: 화성 연쇄 살인 사건; Hanja: 華城連鎖殺人事件; RR: hwaseong yeonswae sarin sageon), which were a series of rapes and murders that occurred in the rural city of Hwaseong in Gyeonggi Province. The victims, all women, were found bound, gagged, raped, and in most cases strangled to death with their own clothes, such as pantyhose or socks. The murders sparked the largest criminal case in South Korea with over 2 million man-days spent on investigation and over 21,000 suspects investigated. The cases remained unsolved for 30 years, until Lee was identified as a suspect in 2019. He confessed to 4 undisclosed murders not originally included in the original list of crimes and all 10 serial murders, including a case previously determined to be a copycat crime (for which a man named Yoon Sung-yeo was sentenced to life in prison).

### Background

The case began with the disappearance of Lee Wan-im (71) on September 15, 1986, while returning home after visiting her daughter. Her body was found in a pasture on September 19, 1986, at 14:00, four days following the murder. A month later, on October 20, 1986, Park Hyun-sook (25) disappeared after getting off the bus while returning home from Songtan. Her body was found on October 23, 1986, at 14:50 in a canal. Two months later on December 12, 1986, Gwon Jung-bon (25) disappeared from in front of her house. Her body was found four months later on April 23, 1987, at 14:00, in an embankment. Seven more murders followed over the next years. The last murder was estimated to have taken place around 21:00 on April 3, 1991. Gwon Soon-sang (69) was discovered dead, raped, and strangled with pantyhose on a hill.

### Sister-in-law's murder and arrest

After Lee's wife left him in December 1993, he invited over his 18-year-old sister-in-law, then proceeded to drug, rape, and kill her on January 13, 1994. According to the detective who investigated him, Lee went to his father-in-law offering help in the search for his missing sister-in-law, and both reported that she might have been abducted. Lee was arrested a few days later, on January 18, after repeated questioning where he later asked, "How many years do you serve in prison for rape and murder?" Lee denied any responsibility and the court overturned his confession, stating that he made a false statement because of police coercion. However, Lee was convicted and sentenced to death in May 1994, and his conviction was upheld in September of the same year. The Supreme Court of Korea reviewed the case in 1995 and Lee's death sentence was reduced to life imprisonment, with the possibility of parole after 20 years.

### Investigation

The Hwaseong serial murders were the first identifiable string of murders in South Korea with a similar modus operandi. The police officers involved spent 2 million man-days on the case. The total number of suspects also grew, eventually reaching a total count of 21,280 individuals. In addition, 40,116 individuals had their fingerprints taken, and 570 DNA samples and 180 hair samples were analyzed.
The first five murders happened within a 6 km (3.7 mile) radius of Hwaseong, prompting police to spread out in teams of two, positioned every 100 meters (328 feet), but the next killing happened where there was no police presence. During the investigation, rumors that the killer targeted women wearing red clothes on rainy days spread, leading some female police officers to wear red clothes in an attempt to lure the killer into a trap.
A suspect sketch was drawn based on the memory of a bus driver, surname Kang, and bus conductor, surname Uhm, who saw a man get on the bus shortly after the seventh murder on September 7, 1988. The characteristics of the suspect, which were described by the bus driver, were similar to the descriptions given by survivors who were sexually assaulted. According to the victims, the culprit at the time of the incident was a thin-framed man in his mid-20s, with a height of 165 to 170 centimeters, short cut sporty-type hair, no double eyelids, and a sharp nose. In addition, he was described as having soft hands. Police also stated that the suspect had a "B" blood type, but in 2019, police acknowledged that this was likely inaccurate, because Lee had blood type "O". A survivor of the serial murders, 36-year-old Lee Geum-ran, was attacked by Lee sometime in late 1986 and she described him as skinny, with a low voice.
On July 27, 1989, Yoon Sung-yeo, a 22-year-old man, was arrested for the murder of the eighth victim, 14-year-old Park Sang-hee. Yoon admitted guilt during questioning, and according to a 1989 report written by an expert at National Forensic Service, the forensic tests of pubic hair samples found at the scene suggested similarities with his, returning a 40% match with Yoon's. This case was determined to be a copycat crime, and Yoon was sentenced to life in prison. Reports state that at least four individuals, deemed as possible suspects, took their own lives in the 1990s after being investigated and allegedly abused by police.

### Public reaction

The release of the film Memories of Murder in 2003, which was partially inspired by the serial murders, sparked renewed interest in the case. The murder of a female college student in Hwaseong in 2004 also sparked renewed interest and fears that a serial killer had returned. The serial murders made headlines again as the statute of limitations for the most recent victims was due to expire on April 2, 2006. At the time of the killings, there was a 15-year statute of limitations for first-degree murder. This was increased to 25 years in 2007, and finally lifted in 2015, but it was not retroactive. However, evidence and police records were kept due to the significance of the case.

### Identification and confession

On September 18, 2019, police announced that Lee had been identified as a suspect in the serial murders. He was identified after DNA from the underwear of one of the victims was matched with his, and subsequent DNA testing linked him to four of the other unsolved serial murders. At the time he was identified, he was already serving a life sentence at a prison in Busan for the rape and murder of his sister-in-law. Lee initially denied any involvement in the serial murders, but on October 2, 2019, police announced that Lee had confessed to killing 14 people, including all 10 victims in the serial murders, which includes a case previously considered to be a copycat crime, and 4 others. Three of those other murders happened in Hwaseong but had not previously been attributed to the serial killer, and the other two happened in Cheongju. As of October 2019, details about those four victims have not been released. In addition to the murders, he also confessed to more than 30 rapes and attempted rapes.
On November 15, 2019, police announced that they had reached a provisional conclusion that Lee was responsible for all 10 serial murders. Police expressed that Lee had weak self-esteem due to his introverted personality but experienced a sense of accomplishment and self-reliance for the first time in his mandatory military service, which led him to commit sex crimes to express his frustration caused by his monotonous life following his discharge from the military. The provincial police chief stated that Lee displayed psychopathic tendencies by being unable to empathize with the victims' pain and suffering and continuously showing off his crimes.
On July 2, 2020, the police confirmed that Lee committed 14 murders and 9 rapes in relation to the Hwaseong serial murders with the motive of relieving his sexual desire, closing the case 33 years after the first victim's death. On November 2, 2020, Lee appeared in court as a witness for the 8th murder re-trial, where he publicly confessed to committing 14 murders in relation to the Hwaseong serial murders and 30 sex crimes, which led to Yoon being acquitted. Lee remained in prison serving his life sentence. Lee also expressed that he had no intention of seeking parole and release, as he did not want to face the public condemnation for his crime like notorious child rapist Cho Doo-soon, whose release after serving his 12-year jail term led to public outrage and widespread protests.

### Wrongful conviction of Yoon Sung-yeo

Yoon was sentenced to life in prison, but appealed the ruling at the time, alleging that police coerced him into giving false confessions through torture. His appeal was denied and he served 19.5 years in jail before being released on parole in 2009.
Yoon filed for a re-trial of his case on November 13, 2019, following news reports that Lee had confessed to all 10 serial murders. Two days later, police announced that they had reached a provisional conclusion that Lee was responsible for the murder for which Yoon was convicted. Police said Lee's confession in the eighth murder 'elaborately and coherently' described both the scene and the victim. This raised concerns that police had charged an innocent man, with the district prosecutors' office confirming that Yoon underwent cruel treatment by investigators at the time of his arrest and that a forensic report by the National Forensic Service had been fraudulently written. In December 2019, the Gyeonggi South Provincial Police Agency booked and charged eight of the original investigators with abuse of power and illegal detention for allegedly physically abusing Yoon when he was a suspect, forcing him to make a false confession, and falsifying investigative documents.
The court accepted Yoon's plea for a re-trial in January 2020. The final court hearing was held on November 2, 2020, where Lee stood as a witness confessing to the murder and describing the crime scene. Yoon Sung-yeo was acquitted of murder on 17 December 2020, after the re-trial court accepted that Yoon was innocent all along and finding Lee guilty of Bak's murder despite the expiration of the statute of limitations.

## List of known victims

The first 10 murders were part of the Hwaseong serial murders.
| Crime | Date and time of crime (estimated) | Date and time of discovery | Victim and age | Location | Remarks |
| 1 | September 15, 1986 06:20 | September 19, 1986 14:00 | Lee Wan-im, 71 | Taean-eup (Now called Hwaseong), Annyeong-ri (now called Annyeong-dong), pasture | Elder murdered while returning home after visiting her daughter. Evidence found: Strangled by hand, negative semen reaction |
| 2 | October 20, 1986 22:00 | October 23, 1986 14:50 | Park Hyun-sook, 25 | Taean-eup (now called Hwaseong), Jinan-ri (now called Jinan-dong), canal | Murdered after getting off the bus while returning home from Songtan after meeting with a prospective marriage partner. Evidence found: Strangled by hand, semen (blood type cannot be determined) |
| 3 | December 12, 1986 23:00 | April 23, 1987 14:00 | Kwon Jung-bon, 25 | Taean-eup (now called Hwaseong), Annyeong-ri (now called Annyeong-dong), embankment | Housewife murdered in front of her house. Evidence found: Strangled by stockings, gagged with her stockings, panties on the face, semen (blood type cannot be determined) |
| 4 | December 14, 1986 23:00 | December 21, 1986 12:30 | Lee Kye-sook, 23 | Jeongnam-myeon, Gwanhang-ri, ridge between rice fields | Murdered after getting off the bus while returning home after meeting with a prospective marriage partner. Evidence found: Hands tied, strangled and violated by an umbrella, girdle covering her face, semen (blood type cannot be determined) |
| 5 | January 10, 1987 20:50 | January 11, 1987 13:00 | Hong Jin-young, 19 | Taean-eup (now called Hwaseong), Hwanggye-ri (now called Hwanggye-dong), rice paddy | High school girl murdered after getting off the bus while returning home. Evidence found: Hands tied, gagged with her socks, strangled, semen (blood type cannot be determined) |
| 6 | May 2, 1987 23:00 | May 9, 1987 15:00 | Park Eun-joo, 29 | Taean-eup (now called Hwaseong), Jinan-ri (now called Jinan-dong), hill | Housewife murdered while going to give her husband an umbrella. Evidence found: strangled, semen (blood type cannot be determined) |
| 7 | September 7, 1987 21:30 | September 8, 1987 09:30 | Ahn Gi-soon, 54 | Paltan-myeon, Gajae-ri, canal | Housewife murdered after getting off the bus while returning home. Evidence found: Hands tied, gagged with her socks and handkerchief, strangled, peach slices, semen (blood type cannot be determined) |
| 8 | September 16, 1988 02:00 | September 16, 1988 06:50 | Park Sang-hee, 14 | Taean-eup (now called Hwaseong), Jinan-ri (now called Jinan-dong), house | Middle school girl murdered while sleeping in her room. Initially determined to be a copycat crime perpetrated by 22-year-old Yoon Sung-yeo, who served 19.5 years in jail before being released on parole in 2009. However, after Lee's confession in 2019, police reached a provisional conclusion that Lee was indeed the killer. Yoon filed for a re-trial on 13 November 2019. |
| 9 | November 15, 1990 18:30 (weather: foggy) | November 16, 1990 09:50 | Kim Mi-jung, 14 | Taean-eup (now called Hwaseong), Byeongjeom-dong (now called Byeongjeom-dong), hill | Middle school girl murdered while returning home. Evidence found: Hands and feet tied, strangled, gagged with her bra, ballpoint pen, fork, spoon and razor blade, semen (blood-type determined to be "B") |
| 10 | April 3, 1991 21:00 (weather: clear) | April 4, 1991 09:30 | Kwon Soon-sang, 69 | Dongtan-myeon, Bansong-ri (now called Bansong-dong), hill | Elder murdered after getting off the bus while returning home. Evidence found: Strangled, two footprint marks (couldn't be analyzed), semen (blood-type determined to be "B") |
| 11 | December 24, 1987 | January 4, 1988 | Kim Mi-soon, 18 | Hwaseong | |
| 12 | July 7, 1989 | N/A | Kim Hyun-jung, 8 | Hwaseong | |
| 13 | January 26, 1991 | January 27, 1991 | Park Mi-hwa, 17 | Hwaseong | |
| 14 | March 7, 1991 | March 7, 1991 | Kim Hong-bun, 27 | Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province | |
| 15 | January 13, 1994 | January 15, 1994 | Lee's sister-in-law, 18 | Bokdae-dong, Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province | Lee was sentenced to death for rape and murder. Reduced to life imprisonment by the Supreme Court. |

## In popular culture

Several films and television shows were based on the Hwaseong serial murders:
* Memories of Murder (2003)
* Confession of Murder (2012)
* Gap-dong (2014)
* Signal (2016)
* Tunnel (2017)
* Criminal Minds (2017)
* Partners for Justice (2018)
* Signal (2018)
* Unknown Number (2019)
* Flower of Evil (2020)
* Taxi Driver (2021)