16case filesUpdated Jul 16, 2026
Casepin holds 16 solved cases in South Korea. A solved case is one the record closes with a conviction or an equivalent legal finding; each file names who was convicted only where a court did.
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.
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.
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.
SOLVEDListenCoastal marine base, Ganghwa County, South Korea · 2005
On July 4, 2011, a South Korean marine corporal opened fire on fellow soldiers at a coastal base on Ganghwa Island, killing four and injuring one before attempting suicide with a grenade.
The files run from 1949 to 2016. The 1950s hold the most, with 3 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 16 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. 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.
Joam-ri, Hwaseong district — rural fields — Credit: Muller504, via Wikimedia CommonsCC BY-SA 3.0Source
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
These files are published and cited but are kept out of search listings for now, either because they fall outside Casepin’s true-crime scope or because they are still being deepened.
16. 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.
