[The Police File]Kim Gil-su's 63-Hour Escape Drama Enabled by Public Authority

Reported an Hour After Hospital Escape
Unable to Track in Areas Without CCTV

Our country is not an environment conducive to escape. The territory is small, surrounded on all sides by the sea and North Korea. Additionally, there are CCTV cameras everywhere nationwide. Although there was the notorious escapee Shin Chang-won, who was on the run for 907 days from January 1997 to July 1999, this was an exceptional case caused by police incompetence and the lack of infrastructure with almost no CCTV at the time. In reality, most escapees in the 2010s did not last even a day, let alone two. In 2010, Choi, a murderer imprisoned in Daejeon Prison, escaped by climbing over the wall but was caught within 4 hours and 30 minutes. In 2014, Jeong Dong-won, an attempted murderer who escaped in Busan, was caught the next day. In January 2021, a man who fled during transfer from Daejeon Prison was arrested within 40 minutes.

However, the recent escape of the special robber Kim Gil-su, which caused a stir in the public, was quite different. On the morning of the 4th at 6:20 a.m., he escaped from Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, where he was hospitalized for treatment, and was apprehended 63 hours later at 9:25 p.m. on the 6th in Ganeung-dong, Uijeongbu City. Kim Gil-su roamed through six areas including Uijeongbu City and Yangju City in Gyeonggi Province, as well as Nowon-gu, Gwangjin-gu, Seocho-gu, and Dongjak-gu in Seoul. At the time of his arrest, he still had 400,000 won in cash given by his younger brother. If he had not made the phone call that led to his capture, the escape could have lasted even longer.

Escape is an instinct of criminals. Preventing it is the fundamental duty of public authority. If public authority becomes complacent, criminals exploit that gap. If an escape incident occurs due to a momentary lapse, swift initial response and active pursuit must be undertaken to apprehend the suspect as quickly as possible. However, in this case, complacency beyond mere negligence is evident in the correctional authorities and police. If the prison officers had simply blocked the hospital room door from the start, the escape itself could not have happened. It is presumed that the fact of Kim Gil-su’s escape was recognized only much later. He went down the stairs from the 7th floor, where the hospital room was located, to the basement, changed into staff clothes in the laundry room, left the hospital, and took a taxi. The prison officers reported to 112 only at 7:20 a.m., an hour after the escape.

The police deployed a large number of officers, but it appears that tracking his whereabouts relied solely on CCTV. The last known location of Kim Gil-su identified by the police was at 9:40 p.m. on the day of the escape, the 4th, at the Seocho District Express Bus Terminal. According to Kim Gil-su’s statement, he walked about 600 meters from the express bus terminal to Sapyeong Station. According to the ‘Seocho Safety Map,’ there is no security CCTV on the route from the express bus terminal to Sapyeong Station. Because there was no CCTV, the police effectively gave up on tracking his whereabouts. It is also questionable whether inquiries were properly conducted regarding places where he might have formed connections. Kim Gil-su took a taxi to Yangju City, Gyeonggi Province, at 2 a.m. on the 5th and hid for more than a day in an underground parking lot of a commercial building near his younger brother’s house.

Because of these gaps, Kim Gil-su was able to continue his 63-hour escape. The biggest reason for swiftly apprehending escapees is the risk of additional crimes. In 2015, Kim Seon-yong, a sex offender who escaped during treatment confinement and was caught after 28 hours, committed sexual assault on a female store owner during his escape. Therefore, public authority must not show complacency in the face of crime. Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon apologized for this incident and said, "We will conduct a strict investigation into whether the measures taken after the escape were appropriate and prepare measures to prevent recurrence." Preventing recurrence must start with establishing discipline within public authority.