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Sleuths Of Seoul
episode • Dateline • Current Affairs • 27m
episode • Dateline • Current Affairs • 27m
Content warning: This article contains descriptions of physical assault and references to sexual assault.
It was known as the Busan Roundhouse Kick Case, and it rocked South Korean society and notions of justice to the core.
In the early hours of 22 May 2022, the victim — who uses the alias Jin-ju — was returning home after an evening out with a friend. She entered her complex foyer and pressed the elevator button to head up to her apartment. Jin-ju’s next memory was waking up in a hospital bed, badly beaten and suffering serious injuries to her head and brain.
"I heard I had been beaten by a stranger, and that was all I knew," Jin-ju says.
CCTV footage would later show in graphic detail what happened to her.
A man had followed her into the apartment building, approached her from behind and launched into a full roundhouse kick to Jin-ju’s head. She fell to the ground and he continued to pummel her. As she lay unconscious, the assailant picked her up and carried her to a CCTV blind spot.
It wasn’t until the man's trial that she first heard she may have been sexually assaulted.
Jin-ju says the justice system failed to protect her identity, and her personal details, including her home address, were revealed to her attacker. He verbally threatened her and her family. Source: SBS
The missing footage
Even though she was the victim in the case, Jin-ju felt strangely disconnected from the process.
"It felt like I didn’t belong in this case," she says. "I didn't know what kind of incident I had been involved in."
As the trial began, her sense of estrangement from the case only deepened.
"It just made no sense from beginning to end. The attacker could have free legal representation, but I didn’t. I am still in debt because of it."
To access the trial records, Jin-ju had to file a civil lawsuit, which exposed her personal details including her home address to her attacker. Months later, he made verbal threats against Jin-ju and her family.
"There was no protection for me when I saw the attacker in court. I felt like just part of the audience."
"It feels like the judicial system just doesn’t care about my life," she says. "Korea is a country where it’s hard to live as a victim."
The moment of the violent attack was captured on CCTV footage. Source: SBS
"I had no idea. No one told me about it," she says. "There was no protection for victims in this and it seemed like I was seen to be more of an obstruction to the trial process."
Jin-ju’s attacker was eventually sentenced to 12 years in prison for attempted murder — eight years less than the term sought by the prosecution. The main reason: the judge wouldn’t consider the possibility of sexual assault.
The TV show
Jin-ju had taken the case as far as she could in the courts, but felt true justice had still not been delivered. So she had to look elsewhere for the justice she sought.
"I wrote a petition to a true crime TV show called ‘Want to Know That’. I wasn’t trying to make up a crime that didn’t exist but was trying to show the most likely motive for attempted murder was attempted sexual assault and that DNA testing was needed."
Kim Sang-Joong is the long-time host of ‘Want to Know That’, a popular TV show that investigates real-life crimes. Source: SBS
The show has a huge female audience, believed to be because South Korea has a higher ratio of female victims of violent crime than many other nations, including Western countries.
In 2020, women accounted for 44.8 per cent of homicide victims in South Korea, compared with 20 per cent in the United States and around 30 per cent in Australia, according to statistics from the Korean National Police Agency.
The appeal
Want to Know That carried out its own forensic investigation of Jin-ju’s case, looking into the possibility she was sexually assaulted. The episode, which aired in April 2023, sparked public outrage and calls for the case to be reviewed.
Jin-ju filed for an appeal. The attacker had already appealed his sentence and during those hearings the judge buckled to public pressure and allowed for more extensive DNA testing.
In September that year, the Busan High Court handed the attacker a heftier 20-year sentence, recognising the charge of attempted sexual assault.
Jin-ju says it gave her eight more years knowing the attacker couldn’t harm her. She believes the TV show influenced the outcome of the appeals hearing.
"It changed everything. After the TV show was aired, the judge changed his opinion and agreed to a DNA test," she says.
Jin-ju went on to write a book about her ordeal and, in a recent development, her story is set to be made into a film starring Jun Hyo-seong from K-pop girl group Secret.
"If it weren't for these shows, I would have probably left this country. Without the media and the prosecutors who helped me, I would not be alive," Jin-ju says.
Want to Know That's producer Kim Jae-hwan Source: SBS
Producer Kim Jae-hwan says the show’s popularity and the fact that victims turn to the media for help in their pursuit of justice stem from public distrust of authorities.
"A social atmosphere seems to have formed in which if someone complains of injustice or a systemic problem, the solution is not sought by addressing the inertia of authorities, but rather through the media."
If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732, text 0458 737 732, or visit . In an emergency, call 000.
