Young-ja, right, and her father pose for a photograph in front of their humble home in a remote mountain in Gangwon in an undated photo. [SCREEN CAPTURE]
[KOREAN CRIME FILES #18]
Behind the glitz and glamour seen in pop culture, Korea’s grimmest and most harrowing crime stories, some more well-known than others, continue to haunt society today. The Korea JoongAng Daily takes a deep dive into some of these stories, sharing a glimpse into the darker side of society as well as the most up-to-date known facts. — Ed.
Deep in the heart of the mountains of Samcheok, Gangwon, about 40 minutes from the village of Daepyeong-ri in the hamlet of Singi-myeon, is a densely forested valley practically cut off from the world.
In the past, a village stood in the valley, but over time, the residents left in search of opportunities elsewhere, until by the late 1990s, only one family remained — a father and his young daughter, Young-ja.
Young-ja and her father lived in a humble mud shack completely off the grid — no electricity, no telephone, no TV, no accouterments of modern civilization.
They survived by digging up medicinal herbs and practicing slash-and-burn farming, a traditional form of agriculture in the rugged mountains of Gangwon.
Except for one week of elementary school, Young-ja did not attend school. Instead, her father taught her to read and write, and the young girl dreamed of becoming a poet.
Young-ja and her father lived this off-the-grid existence until 1997, when photographer Lee Jinoo came for a visit.
Young-ja poses for a photograph while holding a chicken in an undated photo. [SCREEN CAPTURE]
Young-ja was 15 at the time.
Lee, who specialized in photographing isolated and abandoned spaces such as the DMZ, had learned of the family while researching Korea’s remote mountain villages.
He befriended Young-ja and her father, visiting several times. In 1999, he published a story about the family in a magazine — an event that proved pivotal, and ultimately tragic, for Young-ja and her father.
A broadcast company that read the magazine article asked Lee about Young-ja's whereabouts, but he refused to say.
However, the company eventually found out, and in July 2000, KBS TV’s popular documentary program “Screening Humanity” ran a five-part series on Young-ja’s life in the mountains.
Suddenly, Young-ja and her father became nationwide celebrities. As local news outlet Sisa Journal put it, “Viewers, trapped in suffocating lives in the congested cities and moved by Young-ja’s life in nature, were entranced by Young-ja and her father’s life in the mountains and Young-ja’s simple smile.”
Fan letters and gifts soon flooded in from around the country — the family received books, clothing, a computer and even a solar-powered generator. Later, they received a telephone and a TV.
Young-ja and her father even starred in an LG Telecom commercial and published a collection of essays.
The tragedy of fame
Young-ja appears in a TV advertisement for a telecommunication company. [SCREEN CAPTURE]
After their appearance in “Screening Humanity,” Young-ja and her father’s lives took a very sudden turn.
Curious visitors and hikers overran their quiet mountain abode. Young-ja also received invitations to visit the big city, Seoul.
Though Young-ja strongly wished to leave her mountain home and see the outside world, her father strongly opposed it. Their arguments were captured on film by "Screening Humanity,” with the production team even stepping in to convince Young-ja’s father to let her visit Seoul.
Finally, on Oct. 22, Young-ja ran away from the only home she had ever known to stay with a 59-year-old woman in the Seoul area who offered to help her earn a general equivalency diploma for elementary school.
The next day, her father reported to the Samcheok Police Precinct that his daughter had run away.
Young-ja was 19 at the time. Little did she know she would never see her father alive again.
In the morning of Feb. 12, 2001 — while Young-ja was attending a private academy in Seoul — her uncle visited her father’s home.
What he found was her father’s bloody corpse. The door to the home had been smashed, and the home’s interior was smeared with blood.
Timeline of Young-ja's story [YUN YOUNG]
Despite the obvious signs of violent death, Samcheok police gave the body a visual once-over and declared that Young-ja’s father had died of natural causes. Case closed.
However, when Young-ja returned to Samcheok to prepare her father’s body for the funeral, she discovered a deep, 12-centimeter (4.72-inch) wound in her father’s left shoulder. She also found that his nose was broken.
"My father was killed so unjustly," Young-ja said, trembling, during an interview with KBS in February 2001. "I can't believe it, and I don't want to talk anymore."
After a flood of public protests, police turned the body over to the National Forensic Service, which on Feb. 21 concluded — perhaps unsurprisingly — that Young-ja’s father had been murdered. Samcheok police relaunched their investigation.
They did not have to work hard to find the culprit. On March 12, they arrested Yang Jae-dong, a 53-year-old ex-con who had spent half his life in prison for multiple acts of theft and burglary.
During questioning, Yang confessed that late in the night of Feb. 9, 2001, he broke into Young-ja’s father’s home after seeing the family's TV appearances and the LG Telecom commercial, hoping to relieve them of their appearance fees and sponsorship cash.
Having scouted the location and found that Young-ja’s father lived alone deep in the mountains, Yang thought it would be an easy score.
He broke the door of the hut and found Young-ja’s father sleeping. Threatening him, he demanded his money. Young-ja’s father refused.
“Take a look around,” he said, according to media reports. “What kind of money?”
Yang stabbed Youngja’s father in the left shoulder with a knife, killing him. He then combed through the small room and took a 100,000 won ($68) check and 24,000 won in cash before running off.
Soon after, Yang used the check at a karaoke club, apparently unaware that checks were easily traceable.
In June 2001, Yang was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for murder and robbery. Seemingly remorseful for what he had done, he appealed the sentence and asked for the death sentence instead. An appeals court rejected this.
‘The world is too frightening’
Young-ja, right, learns how to write poetry from her father during their life in a remote mountain valley in Gangwon in an undated photo. [SCREEN CAPTURE]
Young-ja’s misfortune wasn’t over, however.
On Feb. 21, 2001, less than a month after the murder of her father, police in Samcheok detained her supposed patron for allegedly swindling 6 million won from Young-ja’s 7.2 million won in appearance fees from LG Telecom.
She also allegedly abused Young-ja while she was in her care, forbidding her from returning to Samcheok to see her father.
Within four months of leaving home for the outside world, Young-ja had lost her father and was allegedly scammed by a once-trusted patron.
Becoming a recluse, she left the secular world behind and headed to a temple in the mountains near her old home to become a Buddhist nun.
“The world is too frightening,” she reportedly said shortly before entering the monastery.
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