A Killer Called Yoo-jung

0:00 Speaker 1: On the night of May twenty seventh, twenty twenty three,

0:03 Speaker 1: the streets of South Korea were almost silent. It was

0:06 Speaker 1: three am, the kind of hour where neon lights flicker

0:09 Speaker 1: against empty sidewalks, where exhausted taxi drivers roam the city

0:14 Speaker 1: looking for one final passenger before sunrise. Most of the

0:18 Speaker 1: people out at that time were drunk businessmen, college students

0:21 Speaker 1: stumbling home from bars, or lonely night shift workers trying

0:25 Speaker 1: to survive another sleepless evening. That was why the taxi

0:29 Speaker 1: driver immediately noticed her. She looked impossibly young, a petite

0:33 Speaker 1: girl with a neat bob haircut that bounced as she

0:36 Speaker 1: walked round cheeks behind oversized glasses. She wore what appeared

0:41 Speaker 1: to be a middle school uniform and rolled behind her

0:44 Speaker 1: a large black suitcase. The driver pulled over beside her.

0:48 Speaker 1: She politely greeted him, almost cheerfully, before asking for a

0:52 Speaker 1: ride to a riverside park near Hopo Station. The request

0:56 Speaker 1: itself felt strange. Who goes to a park near the

0:59 Speaker 1: river at three o'clock in the morning carrying luggage? Still,

1:03 Speaker 1: the driver said nothing. It wasn't his place to judge. Besides,

1:07 Speaker 1: she was polite, far kinder than most passengers he dealt

1:11 Speaker 1: with during graveyard shifts. He stepped out and offered to

1:14 Speaker 1: help load the suitcase into the trunk. No, it's okay,

1:18 Speaker 1: she replied quickly, I can do it myself. That caught

1:22 Speaker 1: his attention. The suitcase looked heavy enough to require two

1:26 Speaker 1: hands and real effort, yet the tiny girl dragged it herself,

1:30 Speaker 1: leaning her body forward as the wheels scraped loudly against

1:34 Speaker 1: the pavement. The driver watched carefully she struggled with the weight,

1:39 Speaker 1: but refused help anyway. Once inside the taxi, she sat

1:43 Speaker 1: quietly in the back seat while the city lights blurred

1:46 Speaker 1: past the windows. Every so often he glanced at her

1:50 Speaker 1: through the rear view mirror. She seemed calm, too calm.

1:54 Speaker 1: When they arrived at the park, she paid without hesitation,

1:58 Speaker 1: climbed out, and once again insisted on handling the suitcase alone.

2:03 Speaker 1: Then she walked toward the dark, grassy area near the river.

2:06 Speaker 1: The driver lit a cigarette. Something about the situation bothered

2:10 Speaker 1: him enough that he decided to wait nearby. He told

2:14 Speaker 1: himself it was because no taxi would willingly stop inside

2:17 Speaker 1: that isolated park at three am for a young girl alone.

2:20 Speaker 1: But deep down, it was something else a feeling an instinct.

2:25 Speaker 1: Fifteen minutes passed, then twenty, and finally he saw her again.

2:30 Speaker 1: She emerged from the darkness of the park, walking back

2:33 Speaker 1: toward the taxi. Only now the suitcase looked different. Earlier,

2:38 Speaker 1: she had dragged it with effort, practically fighting against its weight.

2:43 Speaker 1: Now now it rolled beside her effortlessly, light, almost floating.

2:48 Speaker 1: The girl climbed back into the taxi as though nothing

2:51 Speaker 1: had happened. The driver stared into the rearview mirror. She

2:55 Speaker 1: didn't even seem to recognize him as the same driver

2:58 Speaker 1: from before. Her expression was blank, calm, childlike, but something

3:04 Speaker 1: deep in his stomach twisted violently. By the time he

3:07 Speaker 1: dropped her off at her destination, he had already made

3:11 Speaker 1: up his mind. He was calling the police. That single

3:14 Speaker 1: decision would unravel one of South Korea's most horrifying modern

3:18 Speaker 1: murder cases, because hidden inside that suitcase inside the trunk

3:22 Speaker 1: of his taxi had been dismembered human remains, and the

3:26 Speaker 1: sweet looking girl with the innocent face sitting in his

3:29 Speaker 1: back seat was not a middle school student at all.

3:32 Speaker 1: She was a killer. Her name was Jung Yuyung, and

3:35 Speaker 1: she was twenty three years old. The victim was a

3:39 Speaker 1: young university student in her twenties. To protect her identity,

3:43 Speaker 1: South Korean media later referred to her by an alias Hannah.

3:47 Speaker 1: Hannah worked as an English tutor in South Korea. Tutoring

3:52 Speaker 1: is far more than a side job. It is a

3:54 Speaker 1: massive industry fueled by fierce academic competition. Parents search obsessively

3:59 Speaker 1: for the perfect tutors to prepare their children for elite

4:02 Speaker 1: schools and impossible exams. Hannah was good at her job.

4:07 Speaker 1: She was kind, patient, intelligent, and genuinely enjoyed helping students.

4:12 Speaker 1: Parents loved her because she made learning English feel fun

4:16 Speaker 1: instead of terrifying. Like many tutors, Hannah used an online

4:20 Speaker 1: tutoring platform where verified university students could connect with families

4:24 Speaker 1: seeking lessons for their children. One day, she received a

4:28 Speaker 1: message from a mother desperately looking for an English tutor

4:31 Speaker 1: for her middle school daughter. First, Hannah declined the family

4:35 Speaker 1: lived too far away, but the mother persisted. She insisted

4:39 Speaker 1: her daughter would travel to Hannah's apartment instead. She seemed

4:43 Speaker 1: almost desperate. Eventually, Hannah agreed it would become the worst

4:48 Speaker 1: decision of her life. On May twenty sixth, twenty twenty three,

4:53 Speaker 1: around six pm, Hannah prepared her apartment for the first

4:56 Speaker 1: tutoring session. She cleaned the table straight in the room,

5:01 Speaker 1: got everything ready for what she believed would be a

5:03 Speaker 1: normal evening lesson. Then came the knock at the door.

5:07 Speaker 1: When Hannah peeked through the camera, she saw exactly what

5:10 Speaker 1: she expected, a shy looking middle school girl in uniform,

5:15 Speaker 1: short bob haircut, round cheeks, glasses, completely harmless. Hannah opened

5:21 Speaker 1: the door and unknowingly invited her killer inside because the

5:25 Speaker 1: middle school student standing there was not a child. It

5:29 Speaker 1: was twenty three year old Yung Yu Yung, wearing a

5:31 Speaker 1: second hand school uniform she had purchased specifically for the murder.

5:36 Speaker 1: Hidden beneath the uniform was a knife. Within minutes of

5:39 Speaker 1: entering the apartment, Yu Yung attacked. She stabbed Hannah repeatedly

5:43 Speaker 1: in the neck, again, again again. Investigators later noted something disturbing.

5:50 Speaker 1: Most of the wounds targeted the exact same area, suggesting

5:54 Speaker 1: Yu Jung had researched where to stab to kill efficiently.

5:57 Speaker 1: Hannah never stood a chance. What happened afterwards shocked even

6:02 Speaker 1: experienced investigators. Because yu Jung did not panic, she did

6:06 Speaker 1: not flee. Instead, She spent the entire night inside the apartment,

6:11 Speaker 1: behaving almost casually. CCTV footage later showed her calmly leaving

6:15 Speaker 1: and returning multiple times. She went shopping for cleaning supplies, bleach,

6:21 Speaker 1: trash bags, and additional tools. At one point, she even

6:25 Speaker 1: wore Hannah's jacket while walking through the city, as if

6:28 Speaker 1: she were trying on the victim's life. Hours later, Yung

6:32 Speaker 1: dismembered the body. Then she packed parts of Hannah's remains

6:35 Speaker 1: into the suitcase, the same suitcase the taxi driver would

6:39 Speaker 1: later carry in his trunk. When police arrested Yu Yung

6:43 Speaker 1: only hours later, she showed almost no emotion. First, she lied.

6:48 Speaker 1: She claimed the remains belonged to a baby she had

6:51 Speaker 1: secretly delivered and killed. That lie collapsed immediately. Then she

6:56 Speaker 1: changed her story. She claimed someone else committed the murder

6:59 Speaker 1: and had hired her to dispose of the body. Another lie,

7:03 Speaker 1: then another, then another. Investigators soon realized they were dealing

7:08 Speaker 1: with someone who lied compulsively and effortlessly. But what truly

7:12 Speaker 1: disturbed police was what they found on her phone. Searches

7:16 Speaker 1: about hiding corpses, crime documentaries, true crime obsession. She reportedly

7:22 Speaker 1: spent countless hours consuming media about serial killers and murder cases.

7:27 Speaker 1: According to investigators, Yuyung later confessed that she committed the

7:31 Speaker 1: murder simply because she wanted to know what it felt

7:34 Speaker 1: like to kill someone. That sentence horrified South Korea. Not

7:38 Speaker 1: for money, not revenge, not jealousy, just curiosity. As police

7:44 Speaker 1: dug deeper into Yuyung's background, they uncovered an unsettling portrait

7:49 Speaker 1: of isolation. Classmates described her as invisible, not bullied, not loud,

7:56 Speaker 1: not emotional, just absent. She rarely spoke to anyone. The

8:01 Speaker 1: classmates greeted her, she ignored them completely. Teachers received only

8:06 Speaker 1: one word answers. Neighbors barely remembered seeing her outside. After

8:11 Speaker 1: high school, she withdrew almost entirely from society. She lived

8:15 Speaker 1: with her grandfather, claiming she was studying for government exams,

8:20 Speaker 1: while spending years isolated in her room, consuming media online.

8:24 Speaker 1: No friends, no relationships, no social life. When investigators checked

8:30 Speaker 1: her phone after the murder, they found something almost impossible

8:33 Speaker 1: in the modern world. No contacts, no messages, no conversations, nothing.

8:40 Speaker 1: It was as if she existed outside society entirely. The

8:44 Speaker 1: case exploded across South Korea. People became obsessed with the

8:48 Speaker 1: CCTV footage showing Yujung casually wheeling the suitcase through the

8:52 Speaker 1: city with a strangely cheerful energy. What disturbed viewers most

8:56 Speaker 1: was how normal she looked, not frightening, not monstrous, just ordinary, young,

9:03 Speaker 1: cute even, and that terrified people because evil is easier

9:07 Speaker 1: to process when it looks evil, Jung didn't. She looked

9:11 Speaker 1: like someone you would pass on the street without a

9:13 Speaker 1: second thought. Psychologists later evaluated her for psychopathy. Her scores

9:20 Speaker 1: reportedly ranked unusually high. Some experts warned that if she

9:24 Speaker 1: had not been caught after her first murder, she likely

9:27 Speaker 1: would have killed again. Others argued society was too quick

9:31 Speaker 1: to blame true crime documentaries or online media, because millions

9:35 Speaker 1: of people watch violent films and crime stories without ever

9:38 Speaker 1: harming anyone. The documentaries didn't create the monster. They may

9:43 Speaker 1: have simply fed something already there. Meanwhile, the taxi driver

9:47 Speaker 1: who helped solve the case disappeared from public life. He

9:51 Speaker 1: refused awards from police, quit his job, avoided interviews. According

9:56 Speaker 1: to reports, he became deeply traumatized by the realistam that

10:00 Speaker 1: he had unknowingly transported dismembered human remains through the city

10:04 Speaker 1: while sitting only feet away from the killer. What haunted

10:07 Speaker 1: him most wasn't the suitcase. It was her behavior. How

10:11 Speaker 1: calm she was, how normal she seemed, how she smiled politely,

10:16 Speaker 1: and how after dumping human remains into a riverside park,

10:20 Speaker 1: she climbed back into his taxi like nothing had happened

10:23 Speaker 1: at all. The murder of Hannah left South Korea shaken,

10:28 Speaker 1: not only because of its brutality, but because it forced

10:31 Speaker 1: people to confront a terrifying truth. Sometimes monsters do not

10:36 Speaker 1: hide behind angry faces, violent outbursts, or obvious warning signs.

10:41 Speaker 1: Sometimes they look like quiet girls with school uniforms and

10:45 Speaker 1: soft smiles. And sometimes the only thing separating life from

10:49 Speaker 1: death is a taxi driver who trusted his instincts