Causing pain in the hearts of Koreans, a self deprecating killer kills | Incident | Koreans

"I will kill 100 people at Gangnam Station in Seoul."

"I want to kill those people who go to the amusement park to play."

"I want to blow up the National Central Museum, the Japanese Embassy, the Nanshan Tower, and the Japanese School."

Recently, there have been hundreds of "murder previews" on the Korean internet, with members of idol groups, esports players, and well-known politicians all being targeted. Many public places, including shopping malls and airports, have received bomb threat calls.

Along with the "murder trailer", there are also incidents of injury. Within just half a month, there have been multiple knife wielding and random killings in South Korea, resulting in dozens of casualties.

The whole of Korea is shrouded in a terrifying atmosphere, and people don't know when they will return to normal life.

·The police have increased their strength in densely populated areas.

"I want others to be as unfortunate as me"

At 2pm on July 21st, it was the hottest time of the day, and there were not many pedestrians on the road. College student Jin is looking for rental information near the Xinlindong subway station.

Jin's mother passed away in 2018 due to cancer, his father worked abroad, and his younger brother studied at a university in South Korea. In order to prevent his aging father from working too hard, Jin has been working part-time and actively taking on his younger brother's living expenses.

On this day, Jin made an appointment with a real estate agent to see a house in Xinlin Cave. Although it's a bit far from his school and workplace, he still wants to find a smaller house nearby to save money.

Just as Jin was contacting the agent on the phone, his neck was suddenly scratched by someone. Before Jin could react, he was struck several times by someone, with his face and arms pierced by the knife. He immediately fell into a pool of blood and lost consciousness.

·People went to the crime scene to mourn the deceased Jin.

The person who injured Jin is called Zhao Shan, and the two of them don't know each other, they haven't even met in person. In addition to Jin, Zhao Shan also committed violence against three male passersby in their thirties, and this was the first time he had met them.

After the police arrived at the scene, they saw Zhao Shan holding a bloody knife and shouting, "Listen to me, listen to me..."

Quickly, the police subdued Zhao Shan. He told the police, "I live a very unhappy life, so I also want to make others feel unhappy. I hate living in this world, and out of anger, I killed them.".

·Zhao Shan

Zhao Shan's misfortune was not caused by these few victims.

Zhao Shan, born in 1990, is 33 years old this year. He lost contact with his parents since childhood and has been living with his grandmother who has a hearing impairment. Sometimes, he also stays at his aunt's house in Incheon for a few days.

Since his student days, Zhao Shan has been a problem student, having three criminal records and being sent to juvenile courts 14 times. After graduating from high school, he entered society early and engaged in financial fraud, which was also a common occurrence of violent injuries.

In January 2010, Zhao Shan, who was 20 years old at the time, had a dispute with someone in a bar and injured a customer and employee with a wine bottle. He was sentenced by the court to one year and six months in prison with a two-year probation.

Zhao Shan has posted many photos on his personal social media account showing smoking, drinking, and looking very arrogant. A person who has dealt with Zhao Shan introduced that the two met in a casino three or four years ago. At that time, Zhao Shan looked like a "troublemaker". A reporter went to the casino and the staff confirmed that Zhao Shan used to be a regular there.

Zhao Shan, who spends his days fooling around, often gets scolded by his grandmother, but the old man's preaching only makes him even more annoyed. He believes that everything is caused by this society, including his short stature and lack of money, all of which should be attributed to social problems.

Zhao Shan, who had radical ideas, began to feel increasingly insecure, especially in front of young men who were taller and had jobs. He often unconsciously compared himself to them, saying, "I worked hard to live, but still worked hard, so I wanted to kill them.".

He swung the knife in his hand towards the "imaginary enemy" and chose the place where he used to drink frequently, as it was mostly frequented by young men.

·Zhao Shan

A month before committing the crime, he began searching for "murder tools" and "how to kill" on his phone and computer. After deciding to commit the crime, he reset his phone and smashed the computer with a hammer in an attempt to destroy the evidence.

The police also found that Zhao Shan had been addicted to mobile games for 8 months before the crime. On the morning of the day of the crime, he watched a video of "First Sight Shooting Game". The police believe that his modus operandi was a character in a simulation game video.

At present, the prosecution has arrested and charged Zhao Shan with murder, attempted murder, theft, fraud, and other charges.

Minors issue "murder previews"

After the Xinlin Dong murder incident, it is hard for South Korean people to imagine that a knife wielding murder would occur in the bustling city of Seoul during the daytime. However, only half a month later, a similar case occurred again.

At 5:59 pm on August 3rd, the Shuxian Station of the Subway in Puntang District, Chengnan City was in the rush hour of work, and hurried people were shuttling through the subway station. They were not aware that the danger was approaching.

22-year-old Cui Yuanzhong first drove towards the crowd at the entrance of the subway station, knocked down 5 people, and then got off the car with a knife and entered a nearby shopping mall, stabbing multiple people.

A netizen captured a picture of Cui Yuanzhong, who looked very excited and kept waving his knife, screaming and running back and forth.

·The scene where Cui Yuanzhong was captured.

At 6:06 am, Cui Yuanzhong was under police control. As of 11:00 pm that evening, a total of 14 people were injured, of which 12 were seriously injured.

According to police investigation, Cui Yuanzhong performed well in junior high school and even won awards in the Computer Olympiad competition. Later, he failed the entrance exam and was unable to enter his ideal high school as he had hoped. He dropped out of regular high school due to social anxiety and left his family to live alone since then.

In 2020, Cui Yuanzhong was diagnosed with schizophrenia, but he did not receive treatment. But instead, he spends his days confined to a rental room, living in another world - he likes to leave messages on various forums, most of which are related to hating the world and venting his anger.

·Cui Yuanzhong

He said in an investigation, "There is a group of people who have been peeping into my private life. They are tracking me, torturing me, and trying to kill me." "They want to hire someone to kill me, and I am also trying to survive. I kill whatever I see, and there is no way.".

Someone discovered that Cui Yuanzhong suspected to have posted a post the day before the incident, stating that "there are not many days left to live, and he is about to go to a different world.". He also went to the supermarket to buy the murder weapon. So the police believe that Cui Yuanzhong's crime was planned.

Cui Yuanzhong's father is an ordinary office worker, and the vehicle Cui Yuanzhong used to drive the murder was his mother's. But the family was completely unaware of their son's situation until an hour and a half later, when the police confirmed the vehicle and asked, "Why is my car there? Did the prisoner catch it?"

·The car used by Cui Yuanzhong for the crime.

A professor from the Police Department of South Korea's Jianguo University said, "The commonality of recent murder cases is that the perpetrators are marginalized individuals isolated by society and trapped in negative emotions. People who break ties with society become time bombs hidden in various parts of society.".

South Korean police chief Yoon Hee gen stated in response to two incidents of "random homicide" that similar incidents have occurred one after another, which is different from previous crimes and comparable to terrorist attacks. He called for "immediate concentration of police forces to eliminate people's anxiety about abnormally motivated crimes.".

Even worse, starting from July 22nd, a series of "murder previews" posts appeared on the Korean internet. The post comes from multiple regions in South Korea, involving crowded places such as schools, airports, subway stations, and stations.

As of August 11th, the police have searched for a total of 315 "murder previews" posts, and according to the IP address of the posts, 119 authors have been arrested. At least one-third of the post creators are minors under the age of 19, and there are many children under the age of 14 who are exempt from criminal punishment.

These "murder warnings" have intensified the panic among Koreans and caused serious public security waste. Many post creators have told the police after being arrested that they are only joking, having fun, or trying to attract others' attention.

"Sick" Korean Society

The frequent occurrence of "murder previews" and "random killings" has made people worried that they may become the target of the killer's crime. Especially the rapid spread of scenes of a large number of murderers committing crimes on the internet has raised concerns among people. The Director of the Police Department, Yin Xigen, stated that the police are currently very concerned about the occurrence of "imitation crimes" and will strengthen patrols in densely populated areas.

Ms. Lin, a Chinese student studying in South Korea, told Global People that she is now afraid to wear headphones when going out, afraid of not hearing the voices around her, and also afraid to stay outside after class. When meeting friends, she tries to arrange meetings in places with less crowded people.

South Korea has also experienced random attacks by marginalized individuals who have been socially isolated to retaliate against society in the past, but not as frequently as recently.

·After Cui Yuanzhong's murder, there were a large number of police cars and ambulances outside the subway station.

In 1991, at the age of 21, Jin Rongji expressed "I want to seek revenge on the world" and drove at a speed in Seoul's Yoyo Island Square, resulting in 23 deaths and injuries. Afterwards, there were also cases in South Korea, such as the 2008 Lun Xian Dong Examination Hall murder incident and the 2016 Biwu Mountain Tunnel shooting incident.

On August 22, 2012, the perpetrator Jin stabbed two former colleagues with a knife and injured two pedestrians while fleeing. Jin was later sentenced to 14 years in prison. In 2013, an organization conducted a special investigation on Jin and 18 other "random homicide" criminals detained in prison, and produced a research report.

At that time, the research team conducted a study on their upbringing, family relationships, mental health status, and other information, dividing criminals into three categories, with the highest proportion being socially isolated, reaching 10 people.

The report states that "many socially isolated individuals, similar to Jin, suppress their dissatisfaction with social and economic isolation, and after a long period of suppression, it suddenly erupts.".

Today, 10 years later, this report is once again mentioned due to multiple cases of "random homicide". A South Korean criminal psychology professor said, "The lack of follow-up research and effective policies after the report was submitted is the most regrettable.".

Some experts also believe that the recent incidents of "random killings" reflect the pathological state of Korean society.

·Zhao Shan and Cui Yuanzhong.

"The recent events have shown us the lower echelons of South Korean society, where there is a tremendous amount of aggressive energy. In the past, South Korea had the highest suicide rate in the world, but now it is evolving into an increasingly frequent and unhesitatingly random attack crime," said Shen Zhenxu, a sociology professor at Central University of South Korea

This phenomenon is very similar to Japan over 30 years ago.

In the 1990s, Japan's economy was in a prolonged downturn, and criminals sent angry signals to society. The streets often saw "street demons" attacking passersby recklessly.

According to the 2022 Youth Life Survey released by the South Korean State Adjustment Office, there are approximately 240000 young people in South Korea who are "socially isolated". Among them, employment difficulties are the biggest reason, accounting for 35%.

Some public opinion points out that socially isolated individuals are constantly frustrated in their failures, and they are unable to alleviate the negative emotions accumulated in their hearts through communication. When the anger index reaches a critical point, it will erupt.

In addition, the generation born after 2000, who are exposed to social media too early, cannot distinguish information on the internet, and will be misled by self flaunting and blind materialism. In the process of comparing themselves with others, they may experience anxiety, which can easily lead to an increase in depression and anger.

A sociology professor said, "If the government does not formulate countermeasures as soon as possible, anyone is at risk of being attacked, social trust and happiness will decrease, and ultimately it may trigger larger social problems. By then, it will be too late."

·The passerby injured by Cui Yuanzhong fell in a pool of blood.