Detective in Charge of Ichunjae 8th Case Apologizes After 31 Years, Saying "I'm Sorry"

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyungsoo] In relation to the 8th serial murder case of Lee Choon-jae, the detective in charge at the time apologized in court to Mr. Yoon, who filed for a retrial claiming he had been wrongfully imprisoned for 20 years.

At the 4th retrial hearing held on the 11th at the Suwon District Court Criminal Division 12, Detective Shim, who was in charge of the 8th case of Lee Choon-jae, said, "I acknowledge my mistake and want to apologize," adding, "I am sorry to Mr. Yoon. I do not know what to say about what happened because of me."

At the end of the approximately three and a half hours of witness examination that day, he turned toward the defendant's seat and apologized to Mr. Yoon.

In July 1989, the year after the incident occurred, Detective Shim brought Mr. Yoon, who was a suspect, to the police station in the form of voluntary accompaniment. After interrogating him for three days without sleep, he obtained a confession and detained Mr. Yoon. Mr. Yoon received an apology from Detective Shim 31 years later.

Mr. Park Jun-young, the lawyer representing Mr. Yoon, argued, "During the on-site verification, the act of climbing over the wall to break into the victim's house could not be reenacted," and "None of the investigators, including Detective Shim, doubted this."

He added, "Looking at Mr. Yoon’s written statement, there are spelling mistakes and the sentences do not make sense," and "Detective Shim said he showed the statement to Mr. Yoon, who had poor Korean language skills, and obtained his signature and seal, but what meaning could this possibly have?"

The forensic results of the two hair samples found at the crime scene have not yet been disclosed. The prosecution submitted the forensic results notified by the National Forensic Service as evidence to the court that day. The court responded, "The forensic results have not officially reached the court," and decided to disclose the results at the next hearing.

The next trial will be held on the 24th.