Memories of Murder: Part Two
By JL COPELAND
The year is 2026, and in a university class, somewhere in Seoul, a professor is speaking:
The first Korean I ever met was a murderer.
Can you guess what the situation was?
Talk to your partner.
If you had told me back in 2002 that one day I’d be using my current murder case as a discussion activity in a university Freshman English class, I would have asked you to pass over whatever it was you were smoking.
But my Korean students do enjoy it.
They come up with the wildest guesses.
My favourite so far: ‘You saw someone acting suspiciously in the toilets at Incheon Airport and you fought with him and the police came and said, “You have caught a murderer.” ‘
I want some of whatever that student had been smoking, too.
This is part two of a three-part series on the two murder cases I worked on when I was a humble intern at a criminal law firm in London’s East End. You can read the first part HERE.
Given the subject matter, this post is much darker than my usual fare. More serious, as it contains disturbing content. Hilarity will not ensue. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
The Body in the Suitcase
It’s November 2001. A dog walker in Askham Richard, Yorkshire (Northern England), approaches a large metal suitcase in a ditch beside a quiet country lane.
The suitcase has been there for some time, and the dog walker is suspicious. As he nears it, there is a strange smell. He opens the suitcase and finds the badly decomposed body of an Asian woman.
She has been bound and gagged (her face wrapped with a distinctive adhesive tape) and police believe she suffocated. She had also suffered blunt head trauma.
The first lead the authorities have is that the suitcase is identified as a Korean brand.
The second lead the police have is a Korean police officer, who is studying at Leeds University (in West Yorkshire), has read the news report of the discovery of an Asian woman’s body.
The police officer has been made aware by his Korean colleagues that a Korean student is missing in England and contacts the English police to let them know. The missing woman is Jin Hyo Jung.
Miss Jin is a 21-year-old Korean student studying French at Lyon University. In late October 2021, she had told her family she was taking a three-day trip to London. She was reported missing when she failed to return to her university.
The family contacted the landlord of the place she had been staying at on Eagle Street, London. The landlord, 31-year-old Kim Kyu Soo (another South Korean) had no knowledge of her whereabouts, but claimed she had disappeared with a stranger (more on that later).
The police confirm through fingerprint analysis that the body in the suitcase is Miss Jin.
They then try to contact Mr Kim (who, it appears, rents or sublets apartments to Korean students and travellers in multiple locations in London).
Mr Kim has vanished, and police are worried that he may have fled the country.
Another Missing Woman
Police have also been looking for a different missing woman. She is another South Korean, 22-year-old Song In Hea. Miss Song was a student from the University of Surrey who had gone missing after a short trip to London.
In December, Miss Song was supposed to meet a friend for coffee in the city, but never turned up. Unable to get in touch with her for a few days, the friend reported her missing.
Miss Song had also been staying at an apartment rented by Mr Kim.
Coincidence? Ha.
Mr Kim is still nowhere to be found.
The police search the Eagle Street apartment.
In the corner of a storage space, they find blood on the carpet and a blood splatter on the wall.
The blood on the wall had been painted over with blue paint also found where? You guessed it, on the suitcase.
It’s Miss Jin’s blood.
There are also signs of decomposition in a wardrobe, suggesting her body had been stored there before being put in the suitcase.
The police interview Mr Kim’s girlfriend. She has no idea where she is.
While they are at her place, they discover a distinctive adhesive tape.
It is the same tape used to bind and gag Miss. Jin. This tape is by London-based artists Gilbert and George and designed exclusively for the Tate Gallery.
Estimates suggest only 850 rolls have been sold across the country.
Scotch Tape, this ain’t.
The girlfriend points out that a significant amount of the tape is missing.
Miss Jin and Miss Song’s accounts have been drained using their credit cards. £2000 pounds (2600 US dollars, 372만원) has been taken from Miss Jin’s account.
Police traced the transactions and found that Mr Kim. had used this money to rent a car for a 600-mile journey.
Police believed he had made this journey to dump Miss Jin’s body (Askham Richard is a 400+ mile return journey from London). They find Miss Jin’s DNA in the car.
He has also booked a flight to Toronto with the money. The police are concerned because they haven’t enough evidence to extradite him if he decides to stay in Canada.
But then, a stroke of luck: Mr Kim returns to London.
The police followed him to an internet café on Bond Street and arrested him in January 2002.
The North Yorkshire Police and the Met Police hold a joint press conference at New Scotland Yard appealing to the public for any information about the two women.
My firm ‘M’ Solicitors, is called to represent Mr Kim. More about us later.
Bail is denied.
A Close Escape?
You can find out what happened next in Part 3 (coming soon).
But I’ll end with something personal that has often freaked me out about this case.
Back in 2001, London was a reasonably popular destination for the few Korean students who could afford to spend a year abroad to study English.
Koreans are usually a fairly homogeneous bunch (especially back then, although these days, times are slowly changing) and most who travelled to London at this time would find accommodation at a Korean homestay or at least a sublet with a Korean landlord.
So, I’ll give you one guess which Korean close to me arrived in London to study English in 2001.
Come on, hands up, don’t all shout out at once.
Yep.
My wife.
This was a full six years before we star-crossed lovers met/I darkened her door.
Now, JL, you might say, the chance of your wife staying at Mr Kim’s was pretty small.
Google tells me there are currently 47 Korean homestays in London in 2025.
Were there more in 2001?
Undoubtedly, but we’re not talking thousands. We’re talking low hundreds; perhaps even double figures.
100-1 my wife could have ended up at Mr Kim’s?
I don’t like those odds.
At all.
Tune in next time to find out if they found that second body, what happened to Mr Kim and how I crowbar myself into the story. Part three is HERE.
JL
PS: If you’re looking for more horror (with a twist of humour) check out my horrendous experience at a Korean heart hospital HERE.
PPS: If you prefer writing tips, the first part of my five top tips for new-ish writers starts HERE.
And of course, for everything else— freebies, life in Korea, the struggle to get that first novel published and other inspirational/self-deprecating dogshit —check out the newsletter: