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'Psychological control' of shaman who killed niece in charcoal ritual revealed

Published: 08 Oct. 2025, 18:15

A mudang, or Korean shaman, dances on knives as part of a spiritual ritual in Daegu, North Gyeongsang, in this file photo unrelated to the story. [YONHAP]

An older shaman who killed her niece in a brutal charcoal ritual after the younger woman tried to escape her control had built a decades-long following through fear and superstition, legal insiders said on Wednesday.

The 80-year-old shaman, identified only by her surname Shim, posed as a spiritual medium after claiming to have received a divine revelation in 1986. From her shrine in Hampyeong County, South Jeolla, she led religious gatherings where followers confessed their sins and performed purification rites, with her collecting offerings in return.

Shim manipulated her followers by acting like she was possessed by a deity, claiming to see their past lives and urging them to perform rituals and make payments to solve real-world problems. She extended this psychological control to her own family.

She told her younger sister, “Your daughter was your husband’s lover in a past life and now resents you. She will kill you unless you make offerings.”

Her sister, who ran a restaurant in Bupyeong District, Incheon, paid millions of won over several years, but Shim demanded more even as her debts mounted.

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit and Shim’s restaurant business in Jeju, run with her four children, faltered, her loans exceeded 1.6 billion won ($1.1 million). Facing monthly interest payments of more than 8 million won, she began demanding up to 100 million won in offerings from followers in exchange for conducting spiritual ceremonies.

Shim also targeted her sister’s restaurant. She persuaded her sister to move to Ulleung Island without her children, saying, “If you leave, I will care for your daughter, who wants to harm you because of a past-life grudge.”

Shim then took over the restaurant under her niece's name, who had fewer debts, assigning her to handle kitchen and accounting duties and her brother to prepare meat.

Shim diverted profits from the restaurant into her own accounts to pay loan interest and her children's credit card bills. As her niece took on long hours and heavy responsibilities, she grew exhausted.

Logs burn in a metal oven in this file photo. [GETTY IMAGES BANK]

Unable to bear the workload, her niece fled the restaurant after drinking one day in summer last year and later began managing its finances independently, cutting Shim off.

Shim retaliated by telling her niece, “A spirit from a past abortion is cursing the restaurant,” and, “An evil spirit inside you wants to kill your mother and is bringing misfortune.”

On Sept. 18 last year, Shim asked her niece whether she intended to stay or leave. When the niece said she would return to Ulleung Island, Shim pretended to drive her there but turned back to the restaurant. Shim then lured her into a ritual, saying she would “remove the evil spirit through a charcoal fire ceremony.”

She enticed her by saying, “If I remove the evil spirit, I’ll let you do whatever you want.”

Shim and several accomplices built a metal frame, forced her niece to lie on it, tied her up, and placed burning charcoal in a bowl beneath her. As the victim convulsed, Shim shoved charcoal into her mouth, bound it shut and slapped her face repeatedly.

The torture lasted about three hours. The victim lost consciousness and suffered severe burns before Shim and others stopped. They hid the metal frame and other tools, waited two hours and called emergency services, claiming that charcoal had accidentally spilled.

But surveillance camera footage captured the entire scene. Police initially charged Shim and her followers with involuntary manslaughter, but prosecutors later indicted them for murder after further investigation.

Front view of the Incheon District Court [JOONGANG ILBO]

In court, Shim denied intending to kill her niece, claiming the ritual was to “heal her abnormal behavior.” The victim’s parents also defended her, saying the defendants “were only trying to help her,” and asked that if “punishment is necessary, give it to us instead.”

The Incheon District Court’s Criminal Division sentenced Shim to life imprisonment and four accomplices to prison terms of 20 to 25 years. Two others convicted of aiding and abetting received 10 years each.

The court said Shim “evaded responsibility by claiming that angel spirits’ wing beats intensified the heat of the charcoal” and “offered absurd excuses, blaming the victim and the hospital while insisting on her innocence.”

Judges noted she appeared carefree after the killing, taking commemorative photos with her accomplices on Ulleung Island.

“The defendants, including the victim’s mother, still seem under [Shim’s] psychological control,” the ruling read. “Their risk of reoffending remains high. The court must permanently isolate Shim to prevent further crimes and protect society from her brutal acts.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KIM JI-HYE [[email protected]]