South Korea
Law & Crime
Man kills five family members over debt fears; police request arrest warrant
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open image galleryA police vehicle carrying a man in his 50s, who police allege killed his parents, wife and two daughters, arrives at Yongin Seobu Police Station in Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. NewsisBy KTimesPublished Apr 17, 2025 10:55 am KST
Updated Apr 17, 2025 11:18 am KST
Police have requested an arrest warrant for a man in his 50s who they allege murdered five members of his family, including his parents, wife and two daughters, because he believed his debts would ruin their lives.
The Yongin Seobu Police Station in Gyeonggi Province said on Wednesday that the suspect was arrested the previous day on charges of parricide. He is accused of strangling his parents in their 80s, his wife in her 50s and his teenage and twenty-something daughters while they were asleep at his apartment in Suji District, Yongin, Monday.
After the killings, he left a note at the scene stating his intention to “kill everyone, then myself.” He fled to an officetel in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, early the next morning but was apprehended later that day after a family member, who had received a suicide-related message from him, alerted authorities.
The man told police that he was overwhelmed with debt after being sued for fraud by buyers involved in a real estate development project.
“I was buried in debt and facing civil lawsuits over accusations of fraudulent apartment sales. I couldn’t let my family take on my liabilities,” he said during questioning.
Police confirmed that he had been previously sued for fraud in Gwangju, where he had been living apart from his family.
Authorities are now investigating whether his financial troubles were truly the main motivation behind the killings and whether he believed this would prevent his family from inheriting his debts. Police noted that compared to similar cases, the scale and brutality of the incident appeared extreme.
A detention warrant hearing is expected to take place as early as Thursday.
This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.
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