[Captured from SBS 'Geugeosi Algo Sipda']
[Captured from SBS 'Geugeosi Algo Sipda']

A man who beat his live-in girlfriend 514 times and killed her in Seoul's Gangseo-gu had created a fictional country with its own punishment rules to control her, newly revealed details show. The suspect acknowledged the assaults but claimed he had no intent to kill, while a forensic expert who reviewed the footage said it was so disturbing she had to stop watching.

The SBS investigative program "Geugeosi Algo Sipda" aired Saturday traced the full circumstances of what has been called the Gangseo torture murder, which occurred around 2:24 p.m. on June 20 in a below-ground apartment in Gangseo-gu.

Paramedics were dispatched after the suspect, identified only by his surname Jeon, reported that his girlfriend — Im Jan-di, 28, a pseudonym — had lost consciousness, but she was already in cardiac arrest when they arrived.

An autopsy found that Im had 21 broken ribs and multiple ruptured internal organs. Home security camera footage captured Jeon, four years her junior, assaulting Im 514 times over three hours and 20 minutes.

When the production team analyzed Im's phone, they found a recurring unfamiliar term between the two: "gukpeu," short for "gukga peurojekteu," or "national project." It referred to a fictional country the couple had named "Dduri-guk," for which they had drawn up a set of operating rules and documents.

In an interview with the production team, Jeon described it as "rules the two of us agreed on — rules we made to fight less."

But the communication guidelines the couple had written contained clauses such as "the moment you choose a lie, you are no longer entitled to any humane treatment," "once punishment begins, no plea or explanation is possible," and "punishment will exceed whatever you can imagine." Notably, only Jeon was designated to carry out punishments.

Jeon admitted to the assaults but maintained he had no intention of killing Im, claiming the violence was impulsive and triggered by his inability to tolerate her lying.

Experts who appeared on the program disagreed, saying Jeon was not acting out of emotional rage but was methodically enforcing the rules he had created to control the victim. Footage from the day of the incident reportedly showed Jeon mentioning death multiple times without ever raising his voice.

"He assaults the other person in a chillingly calm manner, speaking softly and showing little emotional agitation," one expert said.

"Even as a forensic expert, I find this horrifying," another expert said. "I actually had to stop watching and come back to it — that is how severe it is. I have seen the terrible acts of many criminals, but personally, I consider this torture."

Meanwhile, Jeon's parents claimed that Im had gaslighted their son. Jeon reportedly expressed his intention to support Im's bereaved family for the rest of his life and seek their forgiveness.


yeonjoo7@heraldcorp.com