Identification of real-life killer portrayed in South Korean film ‘Memories of Murder’ sparks debate in China

Source:Global Times Published: 2019/9/19 19:48:42

Police officers inspect a murder crime scene in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, in January 1987. Photo: IC



 

Ban Ki-soo, director general of South Korea's Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency, speaks at a press conference on Thursday. Photo: IC



 
 

Poster for Memories of Murder Top Photo: IC



South Korean director Bong Joon-ho has received great praise this year for his black comedy film Parasite. But over the past two days, the director's 16-year-old film Memories of Murder, based on the true story of serial killings in South Korea, has been the hot topic of discussion on Chinese social media, with related topics on Sina Weibo reaching around 900 million views and 142,000 discussions as of Thursday morning.

The spotlight returned to the film after South Korean police announced on Wednesday that they believe they have found the killer after testing linked DNA found at the crime scene to that of a man already incarcerated.    

The film, which has an 8.8/10 on Chinese media review site Douban from more than 335,000 reviews, covers the murders of 10 women between September 1986 and April 1994 in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, a sparsely populated rural area. By the end of the film, the crimes remain unresolved.

"The film was suffocating, yet I couldn't stop watching. I loved the acting from all the characters. It is the peak of South Korean film," wrote one top-rated review on Douban.  

According to a report from the Yonhap News Agency, although the police announced that they cannot bring the new suspect to trial since the statute of limitations on the killings was reached in April of 2006, they are considering releasing his photo to the public. 

The announcement sparked heated debate on Chinese social media. 

Some Chinese netizens pointed out that releasing the information may bring about collateral damage to the suspect's family or even people who look like the suspect. Others noted that despite being a criminal, he has his right to privacy. 

Others noted that if the police do release the suspect's photo, it will be very similar to what they did with child sex offender Cho Doo-soon, whose case was also adapted into the high-profile South Korean film Hope.

Hope is based on the case of an 8-year-old girl known as Na-young. She was abducted, beaten and raped by the then 57-year-old Cho, who was intoxicated at the time. The details of his brutal and inhumane crimes against the young girl were excruciatingly painful to even read about in the news, yet he was only sentenced to 12 years of prison. With Cho set for release in December 13, 2020, police decided to reveal his face to the public in April.  

As online debate continues to rage, a majority of Chinese netizens appear to be rooting for the suspect's photo and information to be released. 

"Protecting a murderer hurts the innocent. Human rights are for humans, not for devils," commented one netizen.

"Public safety has more weight than his personal rights. His photo should be released without question," wrote another netizen comment. 

Aside from the debating about whether to release the suspect's photo, Chinese netizens also raised the question about the statue of limitations, with some suggesting that such severe crimes should not be confined by such a code.  

In July 2015, South Korea's National Assembly removed the statute of limitations on first-degree murder, but it did not apply retroactively.      


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