Jeong NAM-KYU
Classification: Serial killer
Characteristics: Rape - Robberies - Arson
Number of victims: 13
Date of murders: 2004 - 2006
Date of arrest: April 24, 2006
Date of birth: 1968
Victims profile: Women
Method of murder: Beating with blunt objects
Location: Seoul, South Korea
Status: Sentenced to death on September 20, 2006. Committed suicide by hanging himself with a trash bag in his cell on November 22, 2009
Serial Murderer Kills Himself in Jail
By Kwon Mee-yoo - The Korea Times
November 22, 2009
Jeong Nam-gyu, 40, a serial killer imprisoned while awaiting execution, committed suicide in his cell Sunday.
The convicted murderer killed himself Saturday morning in his cell at the Seoul Detention House in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, south of Seoul.
According to the Ministry of Justice, the inmate on death row hung himself with a noose made from a plastic bag. Upon being discovered by a guard, Chung was rushed to hospital, but he died Sunday morning.
He did not leave a note, but officials found a memo in his private notebook. It said, "The government is not considering abolishing capital punishment. Life is like a cloud, coming and going transiently."
The Ministry of Justice said Jeong might have been aware that the death penalty was becoming a social issue and uncertainties regarding his execution may have driven him to take his own life.
Doctors concluded that he died from brain damage caused by hypoxia, but the ministry still requested an autopsy by the National Institute of Scientific Investigation to confirm the cause of death.
Jeong was sentenced to death for the murder of 13 people, including two minors, and for inflicting serious injuries upon them while sexually assaulting them, during a period from January 2004 to April 2006. He was convicted in 2007 and sentenced to death.
Many of the victims were women and children living in southwestern Seoul. Jeong said, during police questioning, that he had targeted the humble residential areas because closed-circuit televisions were installed in places where the wealthy live.
He was one of nearly 60 condemned criminals in local correctional facilities. Since its foundation in 1948, South Korea has executed a total of 920 people, according to a Justice Ministry. The last execution was carried out in December 1997, when 23 people were put to death.
Amnesty International listed Korea as one of the "death penalty-free states" in 2007 as it had not executed anyone for 10 years.
Jeong's suicide has stirred up criticism over the poor management of death-row inmates.
Plastic bags, which the serial murderer used to hang himself, are distributed in every cell. Jeong's cell was not equipped with CCTV and the prison has not been able to determine when Jeong hung himself exactly.
According to the Justice Ministry, 82 convicted criminals have committed suicide in prison since 2004. Most suicides took place in isolated cells and one third of the criminals had been convicted of murder.
The Legal Research and Training Institute said that more than 30 prisoners out of 100,000 commit suicide in Korea, according to data from 2006, which is the highest rate among member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Lax security has been blamed for allowing inmates to sneak in banned items. From 2004 to 2008, 836 convicts were found to have brought in prohibited objects such as cash, cellular phones and cigarettes.
Unrepentant Serial Killer Gets Death
English.chosun.com
Sep. 21, 2006
The serial killer Chung Nam-gyu has been sentenced to death on charges of murdering 13 women in southwestern Seoul and the metropolitan area. The Seoul Southern District Court condemned the 37-year-old killer to death on Thursday. The bench said capital punishment was inevitable since he showed no remorse and was likely to kill again if he returns to society.
Asked for any last comment, Chung said, “My life has been twisted in a strange way. This tragedy would not have happened if the government and society had helped me.” In his first trial in July, he said, “I was just unlucky to get arrested. If I hadn’t been caught, I would have continued killing people.” As prosecutors demanded the death penalty on Aug. 31, Chung said, “I’m not sure I feel sorry for the victims. I felt proud of killing such a large number of people.” But he reportedly said he is afraid to die.
Chung was convicted of killing 13 people and seriously injuring 20 in 24 assaults between January 2004 and April 2006. In March, he broke into a house in Bongchon-dong, Seoul where he hit the owner’s three daughters with blunt objects, killing two of them.
Serial Killer 'Felt Exhilarated' After Crimes
April 27, 2006
A self-confessed serial killer who slaughtered random victims in Seoul told on Wednesday police he felt a sense of exhilaration after committing his crimes and watching the fires he set to destroy the evidence. Yeongdeungpo police said Wednesday they discovered other crimes Chung Nam-gyu committed besides the ten assaults, five of them deadly, he confessed to on Tuesday.
The 37-year-old suspect, who admitted to burning hatred of the wealthy, made thorough preparations for his crimes, police say. He watched crime thrillers such as “Memories of Murder” and “The Silence of the Lambs”, read several books on psychology, science and the human body, and ran 10 km every day to build up his physical strength. He also used different weapons to make it difficult for police to track him down.
“To confuse police investigators, he used knives in seven cases in 2004 and blunt objects in four cases in 2005 and two cases this year,” police said. They are also investigating whether he raped his victims after he confessed to killing women who resisted his attempts to rape them.
Serial Killer Motivated by 'Blind Hatred'
April 26, 2006
Police have arrested a serial killer who hit at least five random victims over the head with a blunt object and burned their bodies to erase evidence after robbing them of no more than a few thousand won. Among others, the 37-year old identified as Chung is suspected of killing two sisters and seriously injuring a third in Bongcheon-dong, Seoul last month.
Police said Chung was motivated by "blind hatred of society" particularly the wealthy. But he targeted anyone including disabled people, from an 18-year-old high school girl to a 47-year-old housewife. He allegedly killed five people and seriously injured eight others in attacks over the last two years.
Chung reportedly suffered from a sense of isolation and victimization since a stint in prison for theft in 1995. Police said Chung broke into homes to steal money and valuables and attempted to kill his victims by hitting them with a blunt object.
Chung, who was described as a marathon fan, picked out houses to target during all-night walks around the city. He was caught on Saturday morning in a struggle with the owner of a house he broke into.
Police Arrest Suspected Serial Killer
April 25, 2006
A suspect in the recent serial murder cases has been caught. The suspect Chung, 37, is thought to have been involved in eight attacks, wounding eight and killing five including three sisters found dead March 27 in Bongcheon-dong, Seoul.
Chung confessed to being responsible for the three serial killings that happened in the southwestern part of Seoul in 2004, and the police are now investigating into the case to confirm the offense.
The Seoul Yeongdeungpo police station, which arrested Chung for murder yesterday, likened him to the notoriously devilish murderer Yoo Young-chul for brutally killing randomly selected people out of discontent with his own life.
According to the police, Chung confessed to murdering females mostly living alone in the southwestern part of Seoul, including Geumcheon-gu, Gwanak-gu, Dongjak-gu and Yeongdeungpo-gu, after breaking into their houses since February 2004.
On March 27 at around 4:30 a.m., Chung broke into the second-floor house of Kim, 55, in Gwanak-gu where Kim’s three daughters were sleeping. Chung hit the girls with a blunt instrument, severely wounding one and killing the other two. He then set the blanket on fire before running away. The injured girl died, too, a few days later.
On April 18 last year, Chung broke into a house in Geumcheon-gu by the window and struck Hwang, 47, and her 13-year-old son with a blunt weapon, stealing money and other goods. Later on October 9, he entered a community center for the disabled in Bongcheon-dong and severely injured two mentally-ill women.
Chung entered another house in Yeongdeungpo-gu last Saturday at around 4:50 a.m. and was caught by the 26-year-old house owner, Kim.
The police tracked Chung’s transit card to find out his routes, and got a confession from him that he used the subway line No. 2 when moving to commit murders.
Chung was very careful not to leave traces of him behind, trying to kill every witness and burn clothes or blankets at the scenes of the crime. He even scrapped newspaper articles reporting his killings to commit a “perfect crime.”
Chung told the police that he wanted to kill every rich man because he was angry with his inability to get a job and get married. Nevertheless, the victims of his crime were all women and the disabled of ordinary background.
In 1989, a year after graduating from high school, Chung committed a special robbery and was sentenced to two and a half years in jail with a stay of execution for four years. He also holds criminal records of serving prison terms for charges of theft, nighttime breaking and entering, and sexual assault. Upon release, he could not find a job and has been living in poverty with his mother and siblings.
He chose Seoul, not Incheon where he lives, to commit the crimes and avoided the Gangnam area where there are many surveillance cameras.
The police see it possible that Chung is also liable for the murder cases in Incheon and other regions, and are jointly conducting investigations with the Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency.
