Lee Chun-jae | |
|---|---|
 Lee in his high school graduation photo in 1983 | |
| Born | January 31, 1963 (age 61) |
| Spouse |
Unknown (m. 1992) |
| Children | 1 |
| Criminal information | |
| Conviction(s) | Murder |
| Criminal penalty | Capital punishment in May 1994; commuted to life imprisonment |
| Details | |
| Victims | At least 45 victims (see § List of known victims)
|
Span of crimes | February 8, 1986 – January 13, 1994 |
| Location(s) | Hwaseong, Gyeonggi, South Korea |
| Killed | 15 (1 convicted, 14 confessed) |
Date apprehended | January 18, 1994 |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 이춘재 |
| Hanja | 李春在 |
| Revised Romanization | I Chunjae |
| McCune–Reischauer | I Ch'unjae |
Lee Choon-jae (Korean: 이춘재; born 31 January 1963) is a South Korean serial killer known for committing the Hwaseong serial murders (Korean: 화성 연쇄 살인 사건; Hanja: 華城連鎖殺人事件; RR: hwaseong yeonswae sarin sageon). Between 1986 and 1994, Lee murdered fifteen women and girls in addition to committing numerous sexual assaults, predominantly in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, and the surrounding areas. The murders, which remained unsolved for thirty years, are considered to be the most infamous in modern South Korean history and were the inspiration for the 2003 film Memories of Murder.[1]
Lee was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after twenty years for killing his sister-in-law in 1994, but despite DNA evidence and his confession to the other murders in 2019, he could not be prosecuted for them because the statute of limitations had expired.
- ^ Cho, Seongyong (May 23, 2012). "A South Korean "Zodiac"". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved September 9, 2015.