On the 1st of April, 2012, a murder in the city of Suwon shocked the nation of South Korea. This is a story of a woman abducted, killed and mutilated into 365 tiny pieces. A story that caused an uproar against the South Korean police for reportedly failing to immediately respond and save the victim even after a 7-minute call to 112 for help.
Our story begins with our murder suspect, Wu Yuanchun, a 42-year-old Chinese migrant worker who’s also half Korean. It was reported that he came to Korea in 2007 and started to work at construction sites, earning around 1.5 to 2 million Korean Won a month – sending them back to his wife and kids in China.
During my research on this case, I wasn’t actually able to find any reports if Wu Yuanchun had a clean police record or not. So it’s not entirely clear if he had run-ins with the police before or if he had committed smaller crimes in the past that would’ve slowly led to this one big act of abduction and mutilation. Ironically, when his neighbors were interviewed, they even said that Wu Yuanchun was just a quiet man who liked to drink alone.
All we know is that this all started on the evening of April 1, 2012, while Wu Yuanchun was on his way home from a local shop. Nothing was said on what specific store he went to or what he bought but as he was walking home from the shop, he had bumped into a 28-year-old woman (who was actually never named; perhaps in efforts of protecting her identity and to just give her family some privacy on this tragic loss). Little did this woman know that merely grazing this man’s shoulder would be the cause of her demise. When the woman had bumped into him, Wu Yuanchun reacted violently. He reportedly responded by threatening her and forcing her into his home where he intended to rape her.
When they arrived at his home, we don’t know for sure if he attempted to rape her, failed, and entered the bathroom or he immediately entered the bathroom and left her in the room when they arrived. But we do know that during the time that he went into the bathroom, the woman managed to call 112 (South Korea’s police hotline). While police initially reported that the call only lasted for 50 seconds, later reports reveal that the call had in fact lasted for 7 minutes. Where the woman described where Wu Yuanchun took her in detail, even giving landmarks of schools in the area and allowed for GPS tracking. The 112 call was actually released to the public. A transcript of a translation of the first few seconds of the call are as follows:
Police: This is the police at 112.
Victim: Hello, I am in a house before Mot-gol playground and getting sexually harassed.
P: Mot-gol playground?
V: Yes, it’s somewhere in the direction of the playground but I can’t tell which house.
P: In Ji-dong?
V: Yes, it’s past the Ji-dong primary school, on the way towards Mot-gol playground.
P: I will try location-tracking with your mobile phone.
V: Ok.
P: So, you are getting sexually harassed now? It’s sexual violence you are getting?
V: Yes, yes.
P: You don’t recognize the detailed location?
V: It’s somewhere before reaching the Mot-gol playground, starting from the Ji-dong primary school…
P: From Ji-dong primary school…
V: …before reaching the Mot-gol playground.
P: Who, who is doing this to you?
V: Some guy, it’s some random guy. Please be quick, please.
P: Who is this, do you know him in any way?
V: It’s someone I don’t know.
P: What did you do to the door of the room you are in?
V: I’ve locked it just now.
P: Have you locked the door?
V: I have, while the guy was away for a while.
P: Will you let me know once again when you enter?
V: (sound of the door being forced open) I beg you, please, I’m sorry…
P: Hello, can you tell me the address once again?
Because this was translated from Korean to English, some words or phrases obviously won’t exactly be the same as how the woman and the operator talked. However, it is very clear that the operator somehow made no sense at all. I mean, the woman had clearly described where she was. Although she didn’t give a specific address, she has successfully created a virtual image of where she was (after the primary school but not reaching the playground). She literally handed the operator a marker and circled a rough perimeter of where she could be for him/her.
Photo from Google Maps
Eventually, Wu Yuanchun was able to knock the door down and attempted to rape her again. The 112 operator had heard her struggle against her abductor and how she screamed in pain and begged for her life as the woman didn’t end the call in hope that the operator would be able to track her location down a lot easier if the call remained connected. The call lasted for 7 minutes before it was disconnected and the 112 operator didn’t hear from the woman again.
Despite this rough perimeter that the woman had given, a clear description of where she could be, and keeping the line connected in hopes of being tracked, she was only found 13 hours after she had made the call even when it was later found out that the station was a mere 7 minute walk from the house she was being held in. Police reported that they had initially sent 35 officers to patrol the area in search for the woman but residents reported that they never saw any police officer around the area during the time of their alleged patrol. It was later found out that there were 20 police officers on duty that night and yet not a single one took a step outside to look for the woman.
Disclaimer: Photo not mine.
13 hours after the call was made, police knock down the door of Wu Yuanchun catching him in the act of wrapping up tiny mutilated parts of the woman in plastic one by one and placing them inside 14 different bags. A store owner actually testified against the suspect saying that he had bought the plastic bags from him in the early hours of April 2, asking if there were any black bags available to which the owner replied that there were only blue – which Wu Yuanchun then bought. Later, the suspect confessed that after several failed attempts to rape her, he later killed the woman at 5:00 am in the morning of April 2 by striking her in the head with a wrench and then strangling her. He then took her body to the bathroom where he started chopping her.
With all these discoveries, the public was outraged with the nation’s “finest”. Their incompetence led to the death of a 28-year-old woman who was calling so desperately for help. The family of the victim also filed a suit against the police saying, “The police could have prevented the murder if they responded promptly to her call. We will seek compensation for what we suffered and will suffer from her death. The police could have prevented the murder if they responded promptly to her call. We will seek compensation for what we suffered and will suffer from her death.”. Although I couldn’t find news on the suit and whether or not the family won. What I do know, however, is that Cho Hyun Oh, police chief of the time, stepped down from his position as he took responsibility for what had happened.
Meanwhile, Wu Yuanchun was initially sentenced to death following allegations that he was planning to sell the body parts back in China. However, this charge was later dropped as there was no “sufficient evidence” proving this allegation. Instead, Wu Yuanchun was sentenced to life in prison and is still serving his time in South Korea.
Blogger’s Note:
I hope you enjoyed the first case that we covered! I actually had mixed emotions as I was researching for and writing this blog post. Thinking of how different things could’ve been if police were able to immediately respond and find the woman. It’s also pretty terrifying if you put yourself in the situation. Imagine being merely 7 minutes away from a police station as you make a call only to be found 13 hours after. I mean, A LOT could happen in 13 hours. The fact the Wu Yuanchun was able to kill, mutilate into hundreds of pieces, and wrap them up one by one is proof. Also, what made him snap? I mean, surely that wasn’t his first time bumping into anyone, right?
If you liked this story and want to hear more from me, share this blog with your friends! Also, leave a comment below and share your thoughts! I’d love to hear from you. See you next time on another True Crime Asia post!
Disclaimer:
None of the photos belong to me. All credit go back to the owner. This article was researched from different links. For reference:
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/s-korea-top-court-rejects-death-penalty-in-brutal-murder
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2012/04/117_108575.html
https://www.ucanews.com/news/chinese-murderer-appeals-death-sentence/53385
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