“She was sacrificed because of me...” Mother blocked every one of Kim Seong-woo’s knife attacks to protect her daughter, refusing to dodge them

[Financial News] The wife of Kim Seong-woo (26), the suspect in the murder of his mother-in-law in Songpa-gu, Seoul, claimed that she had endured repeated assaults even before their marriage and that their marriage registration had been forced by Kim. She particularly pleaded for him to receive the maximum sentence under the law, saying, “My mother didn’t dodge the knife Kim was wielding; she blocked every blow.”
Kim Seong-woo is suspected of going to his in-laws’ home in Songpa-gu at around 5:35 a.m. on the 11th, forcibly taking his wife, A, and stabbing his mother-in-law, who was in her 50s, with a weapon as she tried to stop him. He is also suspected of forcing A into a car, taking her to a wooded area in Yangyang County, Gangwon Province, and holding her captive. His mother-in-law was taken to hospital in cardiac arrest but eventually died.
A, who registered her marriage to Kim in February this year, filed a lawsuit to annul the marriage as her husband’s assaults continued. Fearing that Kim might come looking for her, she moved between an acquaintance’s home, her grandparents’ home and her family home before this incident occurred.
A’s mother was reportedly killed after going to meet her daughter on her way home because A felt unsafe due to Kim.
Speaking on JTBC’s “Scandal Supervisor” on the 21st about what happened at the time, A said, “Kim Seong-woo, who had been waiting in front of the house, called my name as I got out of the taxi and strangled me from behind.” She explained that her mother, who had come to meet her, witnessed this, and that Kim ran toward her mother and swung a weapon at her.
She added angrily, “Kim stabbed my mother in the chest several times. My mother kept blocking every blow instead of dodging. She was sacrificed because of me.”
After his mother-in-law collapsed, Kim grabbed A by the hair, forced her into the car and fled.
A said, “As we were driving, he held a weapon toward me and said something along the lines of, ‘You seem to be living too happily. I can’t eat or sleep without you, but why are you so happy? You made me out to be the only fucking asshole. I made 20 million won because of you and hired a private detective agency to kill your mom and dad, and I even wanted to kill you.’”
A was assaulted by Kim while they were traveling in the car and suffered abrasions, including to her face.
While fleeing, Kim crashed into a police car pursuing him and also threw his cellphone onto the roadside.
A also revealed that she filled out the marriage registration form in February under Kim’s coercion. She said Kim threatened her by raising his fist, and that she filled out the paperwork in tears because she was afraid.
She said that in May, Kim also smashed a door. At the time, he reportedly said, “You’re making me out to be a bad guy,” and struck the door so hard that he broke a finger bone.
In August, A eventually left home and reported Kim for domestic violence, and also filed a lawsuit to annul the marriage. Police provided A with a smartwatch, and a court issued a restraining order against Kim.
After receiving a witness’s emergency call to 112 on the day of the incident, police began searching for Kim. They found his car in a wooded area in Sokcho, Gangwon Province, rescued A at around 10:30 a.m. and arrested Kim at 12:35 p.m.
According to police, Kim stalked A near her in-laws’ home a total of 18 times from the 16th of last month through the 11th of this month. The stalking continued on nine occasions between August 22 and September 30, including after the Seoul Western District Court issued a temporary restraining order on August 22.
Police focused their investigation on the possibility that Kim had planned the crime in advance to retaliate against A for reporting domestic violence and filing a lawsuit to annul the marriage, or to pressure her to withdraw them.
That was because investigators confirmed that after A filed the annulment suit, Kim loitered near his in-laws’ home, bought the weapon used in the crime near their home on the 21st of last month, and postponed a police interview scheduled for the 10th of this month, among other circumstances.
Regarding the statement that Kim had used a private detective agency, investigators are looking into whether anyone associated with the agency may have committed a crime.
During police questioning, Kim claimed that “the murder was spontaneous and the confinement was an attempt to talk.” He reportedly refused to make any other statements.
A, however, said Kim’s crime was “absolutely not spontaneous” and also claimed that he was “smiling” in the publicly released identification photo (mugshot).
Police said they referred Kim to the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors’ Office on the morning of the 20th on suspicion of retaliatory murder and retaliatory confinement, among other violations of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes, as well as special assault and violations of the Stalking Punishment Act and the Domestic Violence Punishment Act.

[email protected] Ahn Ga-eul Reporter