Credit: Korea.net / Korean Culture and Information ServiceCC BY-SA 2.0SourceSOLVEDListenKCIA safe house near the Blue House presidential compound, Jongno District, Seoul · 1979
On 26 October 1979, Park Chung Hee, the third president of South Korea, was shot and killed by KCIA director Kim Jae-gyu during a dinner at a KCIA safe house in Seoul.
Credit: US ArmyPublic domainSourceUNSOLVEDListenMountain above Tuman (Duman-ri), Geumnam-myeon, Sejong City, South Korea · 1950
On July 16, 1950, during the Battle of the Kum River, Korean People's Army (KPA) troops killed an unarmed U.S. Army chaplain and thirty critically wounded, unarmed American soldiers left in his and a medic's care on a mountain near the village of Tuman, South Korea.
Credit: reviCC BY 2.0 KRSourceSOLVEDListenSeocho-dong, Seocho District, Seoul, South Korea · 2016
A 34-year-old man fatally stabbed a 23-year-old woman he had never met in a karaoke bar's public restroom in Seocho-dong, Seoul, in May 2016. He was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison; the case sparked national debate over misogyny and mental illness in South Korea.
Credit: Family handout (mother Lee Bok-su) via Korea JoongAng DailyEditorial useSourceSOLVEDListenBurger King, Itaewon, Seoul, South Korea · 1997
In 1997, 22-year-old Cho Jung-pil was fatally stabbed in a Burger King restroom in Itaewon, Seoul; after years of legal disputes, acquittals, and an extradition fight, Arthur Patterson was convicted of the murder in 2016 and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons (US Army portrait — likely public domain)Public domainSourceSOLVEDListenJoint Security Area, Korean Demilitarized Zone · 1976
On August 18, 1976, North Korean soldiers killed US Army Captain Arthur Bonifas and First Lieutenant Mark Barrett with axes during a tree-trimming dispute in the Joint Security Area of the Korean DMZ, prompting a major US/South Korean show of force three days later.
SOLVEDListenHill 303, near Waegwan, South Korea · 1950
On August 17, 1950, North Korean People's Army (KPA) troops shot 41 captured United States Army soldiers on Hill 303 near Waegwan, South Korea, during the Battle of Pusan Perimeter, after a KPA officer ordered the prisoners killed as his forces retreated under a UN counterattack.
Credit: 서울특별시 소방재난본부(Seoul Metropolitan Fire & Disaster Headquarters)CC BY-SA 2.0SourceSOLVEDListenNonhyeon-dong, Gangnam District, Seoul, South Korea · 2008
On 20 October 2008, Jeong Sang-jin set fire to his room in a Nonhyeon-dong gosiwon in Seoul and attacked fleeing residents with knives, killing six people and injuring seven; he was sentenced to death in May 2009.
Image recordCC BY-SA 3.0SourceSOLVEDListenGeumjeong Cave, Goyang, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea · 1950
Between 9 and 31 October 1950, police in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, summarily executed 153 unarmed civilians and their family members at a former gold mine on suspicion of sympathizing with North Korea, following the Second Battle of Seoul.
SOLVEDListen22nd Infantry Division outpost, Goseong County, Gangwon Province, South Korea · 2014
On 21 June 2014, a South Korean army sergeant shot and killed five fellow soldiers and wounded seven others at a front-line outpost in Goseong County before deserting; a two-day manhunt ended with his capture after a suicide attempt, and he was sentenced to death in 2015.
SOLVEDListenBurger King, Itaewon, Seoul, South Korea · 1999
Cho Jung-pil, a 22-year-old Hongik University student, was stabbed to death in a Burger King restroom in Itaewon, Seoul, in 1997. After years of legal disputes, Arthur Patterson was extradited from the US in 2015 and convicted of the murder in 2016.
The files run from 1949 to 2016. The 1950s hold the most, with 4 files. The oldest is Mungyeong massacre, from 1949.
By type, the largest groups are murder and homicide cases (11), mass shooting cases (3) and serial murder cases (1).
2 files of the 17 have coverage attached: 6 videos, podcasts and documentaries from 1 creator.
Every file is written from cited sources and pinned where it happened, and every person named carries the legal status the record gives them. If you hold information about an unsolved case, contact the investigating agency named in its file rather than posting it publicly. Families and anyone involved can request a correction from any file.
This page updates from the published files, so counts and statuses change the day a record does. Open any file for its timeline, its sources and the coverage worth your time, or play it as a narrated case file.
Park Chung Hee (박정희) Presidential Portrait (cropped) — Credit: Korea.net / Korean Culture and Information ServiceCC BY-SA 2.0Source
Joam-ri, Hwaseong district — rural fields — Credit: Muller504, via Wikimedia CommonsCC BY-SA 3.0Source
Task Force Smith — Credit: US ArmyPublic domainSource
Gangnam Murder condolence 001 (cropped) — Credit: reviCC BY 2.0 KRSource
Cho Jung-pil — Credit: Family handout (mother Lee Bok-su) via Korea JoongAng DailyEditorial useSource
Arthur Bonifas, Mark Barrett — Credit: Wikimedia Commons (US Army portrait — likely public domain)Public domainSource
2008년 10월 20일 논현동 고시원 살인 사건 현장 IMG 9722 — Credit: 서울특별시 소방재난본부(Seoul Metropolitan Fire & Disaster Headquarters)CC BY-SA 2.0Source
Map Goyang-siCC BY-SA 3.0Source
17. By status: 1 unsolved and 16 solved. The count covers published files only and changes as new files clear review.
Mungyeong massacre, from 1949. Open the file
That Chapter (1 case).
It rebuilds hourly from the published files; the newest file change here is dated Jul 16, 2026. A status changes only when the record behind it does.
