“Mom was trying to protect me...”: The day Kim Seong-woo killed his mother-in-law, as recounted by his wife

[Financial News] Kim Seong-woo, 26, who is suspected of murdering his mother-in-law and abducting his wife, had contacted several private investigation agencies before the crime to find out where his wife was, a TV program revealed.
SBS’s Unanswered Questions, which aired on the 7th, revealed details of the crime and how Kim Seong-woo contacted private investigation agencies to find his wife’s whereabouts.
Min-ji (a pseudonym), who lost her mother as a result of Kim Seong-woo’s crime, appeared on the program and described firsthand what she experienced on the day of the incident.
Recalling the moment her mother approached Kim Seong-woo, Min-ji said, “Mom walked up to him saying, ‘Hey, you bastard!’ Then he (Kim Seong-woo) just started stabbing her in the chest with a knife. I think Mom stood her ground to protect me.”
She said that after her mother collapsed, Kim Seong-woo grabbed her too. Min-ji described what happened: “Mom collapsed like a corpse. Kim Seong-woo checked and then grabbed me. I cried and begged for my life.”
Kim Seong-woo then forced Min-ji into a car. After entering “Gangneung Cafe Street” into the navigation system, he reportedly headed for Gangneung, saying they should go get some fresh air.
On the way to Gangneung, Kim Seong-woo shifted the blame for the crime onto Min-ji, telling her, “You brought this on yourself. If you had just checked your messages, none of this would have happened.” Min-ji also said he told her, “I planned to kidnap you so we could die together on a cliff.”
Kim Seong-woo did not stop the car despite being pursued by police. Min-ji explained, “A police car caught up and told him to stop, but he rammed it and kept driving. The car went up a mountain I’d never been to before. The bumper got scratched and it seemed like the tires might go flat, but he kept looking for a higher place.”
Kim Seong-woo drove up the mountain for about 40 minutes. When he could no longer go any farther by car, he made Min-ji get out and continued toward higher ground.
Min-ji said she tried to soothe Kim Seong-woo and buy time in order to survive. She recalled, “I pretended to be exhausted and suggested we rest for a while to stall for time. I lured him by acting as if we’d meet again. When I said we should run far away and live together, he laughed.”
When Min-ji persuaded him to meet again, Kim Seong-woo reportedly softened his attitude. He told her, “Call 119 and get first aid. I’ll be near the beach, so come there.”
After separating from Kim Seong-woo, Min-ji encountered police while coming down the mountain and was rescued about five hours after she was abducted. Kim Seong-woo, who had fled into the mountains, was also caught by police about two hours later.
Min-ji claimed that Kim Seong-woo had threatened her even while they were registering their marriage. She said, “I don’t know where he got the marriage registration form, but he made me fill it all out. My family didn’t even know about it, but he said he’d kill me if I didn’t do it. I filled it out in tears.”
Min-ji reportedly moved from place to place and lived in hiding to escape Kim Seong-woo’s violence and threats. But Kim eventually found out where she was, and in the process, Min-ji’s mother was killed.
The program also revealed that Kim Seong-woo had contacted several private investigation agencies to find out where his wife lived.
A representative of one private investigation agency said Kim Seong-woo contacted them early in the morning. The representative said, “I got a call around 6:20 a.m. on August 27. A normal person wouldn’t call at this hour,” and added, “He said they’d been married for six months and that his wife had disappeared.”
Kim Seong-woo asked them to find out where his wife lived, even if it meant using illegal methods, but was turned down. The representative instead advised him to wait at his wife’s family home, and Kim reportedly later staked out that location.
Kim Seong-woo reportedly also asked another private investigation agency to find his wife’s whereabouts. He is said to have requested help locating her by claiming that she owed him money or saying he was worried because he had lost contact with her.


[email protected] Han Seung-gon Reporter