Murder of knife rampage in Seonghwan, Cheonan, South Korea in 2022

 On April 13, 2022, a knife rampage occurred at around 0:13 a.m. in Seonghwan-eup, Cheonan-si, Chungcheongnam-do.

According to the police, Kim (54 years old at the time) allegedly killed two women in her 30s by wielding a weapon against two couples who had a quarrel on the sidewalk in front of a karaoke room in Seonghwan-eup, Seobuk-gu, Cheonan. The husbands of the victim couple were reportedly devastated while waiting for a chauffeur to return home after the dinner gathering. Two women in their 30s were taken to a hospital with cardiac arrest, but died, and two men were seriously injured and are being treated.

Kim, a criminal with eight previous convictions, was arrested after being reported to the police while fleeing after the crime. Experts claimed that the perpetrator targeted the victims' neck, heart, and sides in the process of wielding a weapon, and that the depth of the wound suggests that it was a planned murder, not an accident. There was also testimony that the perpetrator's acquaintances avoided the perpetrator by causing anger to women on TV for no reason. In a police investigation, Kim made an excuse that he couldn't remember because he was drunk, and said, "There was a quarrel on the first floor in front of the karaoke room, and he was furious at the idea that he was 'young' and brought a weapon from his vehicle.

In addition, one of the victims who was stabbed at the time of the incident was stabbed and bleeding, leading the store owner's vehicle that was stopped near the scene to be injured. However, the criminal Kim continued to chase, beat the window, and cursed, and we had known the store owner who was the owner of the vehicle. When the car owner told the criminal Kim to stop, the criminal apologized and showed a polite attitude. This was revealed in an interview with the store owner, and it seems that Kim was not mentally unstable due to drinking at the time.

The police said they sent the criminal to the prosecution on the 26th. The victims' bereaved families demanded the criminal's personal information, but it was not accepted.

The incident killed two victims, known as the wives of their cousins, and the couple reportedly have elementary school children. The victim's husband was seriously injured and woke up after recovering at the hospital for a certain period of time, but after his wife's funeral, the consciousness returned, and the victim's young children heard of his mother's death. The Chungcheongnam-do National Police Agency sent the arrested criminal to the prosecution without discussing the identity disclosure committee, although public opinion argued that it was necessary to disclose the criminal's identity.

On June 8, 2022, the Cheonan branch of the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office demanded the death penalty for Kim. Later on July 11, 2022, the criminal Kim appealed for leniency, but the Cheonan Branch of the Daejeon District Court sentenced the criminal Kim to a heavy life sentence and attached the location tracking electronic device for 30 years in the first trial.

On September 30, 2022, the Daejeon High Court rejected Kim's appeal and maintained the life sentence sentenced in the first trial. Therefore, Kim is possible after 2042, when the opportunity for parole is given, and it is expected that parole will be possible only when he serves more than 30 years. Moreover, Kim is currently in his 50s, so he is likely to die in prison before being released on parole.