2016 Seocho-dong public-toilet murder case

On 17 May 2016, at approximately 1:07 am, a 23-year-old woman was stabbed four times in the left chest with a 32.5 cm kitchen knife inside the public restroom of a karaoke bar in Seocho-dong, Seocho District, Seoul. The attacker, Kim Seong-min, then 34 and employed at a nearby liquor store, had entered the restroom roughly 30 minutes earlier and waited. In accordance with South Korean privacy customs, the victim's identity has not been publicly disclosed. Kim testified he did not know the victim and committed the killing because he felt ignored and humiliated by women throughout his life.

Following his arrest, investigators from Seoul Seocho Police Station established that Kim had been treated for a chronic mental illness since 2008, including six psychiatric hospitalizations, and had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. He had stopped taking prescribed medication after leaving home at the end of March 2016, despite having been warned at his early-January 2016 discharge that he could experience further episodes without it. Police said Kim had been criticized for hygiene issues at his restaurant workplace on 5 May and transferred to a kitchen assistant role on 7 May, and that although no one had told him directly, he believed women were talking about him behind his back — which police identified as the crime's proximate motive. Five profilers, including National Police Agency criminal behavior analysis team leader Il Yong Kwon, conducted psychological interviews with Kim on 19 and 20 May. Police publicly concluded the killing was driven by persecutory delusion arising from schizophrenia rather than being a hate crime targeting women specifically, characterizing it as a "don't ask questions" (motiveless) crime.

The case nonetheless generated significant public debate in South Korea over whether it should be understood as gender-motivated violence (misogyny) or purely a product of untreated mental illness, with academics, civic groups, and politicians offering competing interpretations. A memorial with post-it notes was established at Gangnam Station exit 10 near the crime scene, drawing large numbers of mourners as well as counter-demonstrators who disputed the characterization of the crime as misogynistic; police were called to defuse confrontations, and a memorial march took place on 21 May 2016.

At trial, prosecutors sought life imprisonment, 20 years of mental health probation, and an ankle monitor. The Seoul Central District Court sentenced Kim to 30 years in prison on 14 October 2016. The Seoul High Court rejected appeals from both prosecution and defense on 12 January 2017, upholding the original sentence, and the Supreme Court of the Republic of Korea finalized the 30-year sentence on 13 April 2017.