Profiler Kwon Il-yong shared the situation when he faced the last serial killer, Kang Ho-soon, and mentioned the possibility of undisclosed additional crimes, shocking the audience.
On the 3rd, SBS's ‘The Story of That Day, Tied Together’ (directed by Lee Geun-byeol, Lee Dong-won, Ko Hye-rin, hereafter referred to as ‘Kkokkumu’) aired its 182nd episode, the second part of the special series ‘The Real’, focusing on the theme ‘The Pickaxe of Serial Killer Kang Ho-soon’.
On that day, profiler Kwon Il-yong recalled Kang Ho-soon, stating, “I have met over 1,000 criminals, but he was the most arrogant, shameless, and vicious among them.” He shared an unprecedented tracking story that spanned 1,200 days from Kang Ho-soon’s crimes to his confession.
The story began with a fire incident in a semi-basement house in Ansan in 2005. The wife and mother-in-law in the main room died, while the husband, Mr. Kang, managed to escape safely with his young children from the small room. The husband’s name was Kang Ho-soon.
It was revealed that Kang Ho-soon received insurance money from a total of 6 to 7 fire incidents, including a vehicle fire and a fire at the sundae restaurant he operated, which caused astonishment.
The victims of Korea's last serial killer, Kang Ho-soon, included two from the fire incident and women who went missing in various locations in Gyeonggi Province. All these cases followed a similar pattern: the victims disappeared from bus stops, and their mobile phones were found with the batteries removed shortly after their disappearance. Among them, there were victims who vanished within a day of each other.
Captured on bank CCTV, Kang Ho-soon withdrew money using the victims' cards, displaying bizarre behavior by wearing a male contraceptive device on his finger and disguising himself with a wig. The police discovered a vehicle registered under his mother's name as a clue and urgently arrested Kang Ho-soon. He brazenly asked the detectives, “Do you have any evidence?”
Kwon Il-yong, who faced Kang Ho-soon directly at the time, stated, “He was not an easy opponent.” From the beginning of the investigation, Kang Ho-soon exhibited typical psychopathic traits. He had a distorted value system regarding sex and an unfounded sense of superiority over masculinity, seeking to dominate and manipulate his victims to fulfill his self-esteem. Kwon Il-yong firmly described his crimes as “despicable and ugly sexual offenses.”
Kang Ho-soon deceived women with a friendly facade, lured them into his car, sexually assaulted them, and then murdered them. His meticulous preparation for the crime from planning to execution was a typical display of a psychopath. The MCs and listeners could not hide their sorrow while watching a video of the victims' families' cries, and Kwon Il-yong wept, saying, “I thought a lot of time had passed, but it’s not easy.”
Kang Ho-soon was sent to the prosecution on charges of murdering a total of 7 people, including a murder case without a body. Including the arson incidents, there were a total of 9 victims. The actual video of Kang Ho-soon confessing to the murder of one remaining victim was first revealed in the ‘Kkokkumu Special: The Real’.
In the released video, Kang Ho-soon said, “I have hidden one thing. I killed one more person,” which left everyone breathless. Jang Ye-won remarked, “I just got chills from my legs.” Kang Ho-soon recounted the situation where he killed a victim on her way to work in Jeongseon, Gangwon Province, shocking everyone.
However, Kwon Il-yong commented that his confession seemed intended to cover up another incident. At that time, the prosecution had already confirmed two female DNA samples from a pickaxe found in Kang Ho-soon’s barn. This DNA did not match any of the victims Kang Ho-soon had previously harmed.
Kwon Il-yong expressed his anger, stating, “Kang Ho-soon is acting right now.” He further pointed out, “That is not an expression of guilt; it is a mask that psychopaths put on and take off in an instant.” Ultimately, it was revealed that there are still two unidentified victims, meaning Kang Ho-soon has undisclosed additional crimes.
Currently, Kang Ho-soon’s additional crimes remain unsolved. The statute of limitations for those crimes has not expired. In preparing for this special broadcast, the ‘Kkokkumu’ production team inquired with the National Forensic Service and found that DNA comparisons with the pickaxe are still possible. Experts, including Kwon Il-yong, have raised their voices, stating that a ‘Pickaxe Special Investigation Unit’ should be established even now.
Kwon Il-yong expressed his sense of duty, saying, “If an investigation into the ‘Pickaxe Case’ begins, I would like to participate, even in a small role.”
So far, Kang Ho-soon has not offered a single apology to the victims' families. At the end of the broadcast, a story was shared about a family member who lost their family and became a police officer, which made everyone weep.
When asked what they would like to say to Kang Ho-soon, the family member who became a police officer said, “I want to convey just this one message: ‘You killed my brother, whom you didn’t know and who had done nothing wrong, but I have become a police officer to protect your family.’”
Kwon Il-yong stated, “Our society must remember the victims who were sacrificed in such incidents. And protecting each other to prevent another occurrence is what our society should do,” leaving a lasting impression.
The story that will conclude the three-part special ‘The Real’ airing next week will focus on the case of Oh Hwi-woong, a death row inmate executed for the ‘Incheon Family Murder Case’, and the broadcast is expected to include an interview with the family of Oh Hwi-woong, which was difficult to arrange 50 years after the incident, raising interest.
