Nicotine husband murder in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, 2021

 On May 27, 2021, a wife killed her husband with nicotine by mixing a nicotine solution into his food in Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. The victim experienced abdominal pain, was misdiagnosed with food poisoning, and eventually died. The incident occurred in an apartment in Hangil-ri, Hyangnam-eup.

The husband, a local company employee, had one child, and his wife, Mrs. B, ran a workshop near the apartment complex. The police commissioned an autopsy to determine the cause of death, and two months later, in July, they received a report that the victim had died of nicotine poisoning.

The police learned from the husband's friends and coworkers that he hadn't smoked since 2013, which led them to treat the case as a homicide rather than an accident, and they launched an investigation. They also obtained evidence of phone calls in which the husband complained of stomach pains after eating the suspect's food, and inquired whether the honey mixed in the meal had gone bad. In addition, they discovered that the wife had purchased nicotine mixed with tar from an e-cigarette store near their home a few days before the incident.

The police determined that B had administered a lethal dose of 3.7 mg of nicotine solution mixed with broth to A. B was issued an arrest warrant and taken to the prosecutor's office, where he was held for ten days. Initially, B denied the allegations, falsely claiming that A smoked regularly, but the police obtained an e-cigarette device with only B's DNA on it. Even after being sent to the prosecutor's office, B continued to deny the allegations.

The investigation revealed that Mr. A and Mr. B frequently argued about money. Mr. B had accumulated tens of millions of dollars in debt through personal credit card charges and loans, and allegedly committed the crimes to pay off his debts. B went to trial on November 30 and was charged with murder.

In new revelations, it was revealed that Ms. A's husband had a long history of government involvement in NGO work. Mr. A's wife, stepson, and in-laws claimed that he took his own life after discovering his wife's affair and becoming disillusioned with her.

It turned out that the suspect's wife had joined an NGO where her boyfriend was a member and actively participated in various volunteer and civic activities at considerable cost. The suspect himself had claimed to have bought land in rural areas such as Gangwon and Chungcheong provinces, but the real estate transaction documents did not exist and the entire transaction turned out to be false. The victim's husband worked two jobs to support his family, and despite earning enough income to maintain a comfortable lifestyle, he realized that his wife, who controlled the family's finances, had incurred huge debts. It is believed that he discovered his wife's affair while investigating the matter.

Eventually, through scientific analysis and reasoning based on a number of circumstantial evidence and data, the 'I Want to Know' TV show revealed that the wife had injected nicotine several times after the husband was first hospitalized for nicotine poisoning, and this was tentatively believed to be evidence of her intention to murder him.

Following a series of incidents of nicotine misuse, including the Namyangju nicotine murder and the honeymoon nicotine murder, there have been calls to strengthen regulations on nicotine sales. Since the Namyangju nicotine murders, individual purchases of nicotine solutions have been restricted, and nicotine liquids sold on the market are regulated to contain less than 1% nicotine. 

However, in the Hwaseong nicotine murder case, when Mr. B asked an employee of an e-cigarette store to increase the concentration of the nicotine solution, it was found that the employee added the nicotine solution to make a high concentration of nicotine. The sale of high-concentration nicotine is also de facto illegal, but there is only an order to improve the punishment provisions, and it is pointed out that the legislation needs to be supplemented urgently.

On April 27, 2022, Mr. B was sentenced to life imprisonment at first instance. On May 18, 2022, Mr. B was sentenced to 30 years in prison at first instance. On February 9, 2023, the second appeal was dismissed and Mr. B was sentenced to 30 years in prison.