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Restaurant owner's wife stabbed to death in Seoul, suspect says he was too drunk to remember

Published: 27 Oct. 2025, 19:01

A restaurant in Suyu-dong, Gangbuk District, northern Seoul, where a stabbing on the owners took place on Oct. 26, is seen on Oct. 27. [JUN YUL]

A man in his 60s allegedly stabbed a restaurant owner’s wife to death during a knife attack at a downtown Seoul eatery. The couple had been running the shop for about three months when the incident occurred.

Police said on Monday that they plan to seek an arrest warrant charging the man with murder.

According to authorities on Monday, the suspect attacked the restaurant owners with a bladed weapon at their establishment in Suyu-dong, Gangbuk District, on Sunday. The couple was taken to the hospital — the wife later died, and the husband remains in critical condition.

With the wife’s death, police upgraded the investigation to include murder charges against the suspect.

Neighbors and local merchants said the restaurant opened at the end of July. They said the owners handed out one 1,000-won ($0.7) scratch-off lottery ticket to customers who paid in cash as a promotion.

The suspect visited the restaurant on Saturday but did not receive a ticket because he paid by card; he returned the next day.

Because lottery tickets cannot be sold on Sundays, the owners told the suspect they could not give him a ticket, and an argument over the payment ensued. Witnesses said the suspect, who was intoxicated, then committed the attack.

Suyu-dong, Gangbuk District, northern Seoul [JOONGANG ILBO]

“The owners opened this place after the son, who used to run another restaurant nearby, closed that shop and joined his parents to start anew — they kept encouraging each other to ‘get back on their feet’ — and then this happened,” said a woman in her 60s who lives nearby, adding that she was at a loss for words.

She choked up and said, “I still remember the owner asking customers to ‘come in and have a cup of tea.’”

“The woman owner had arthritis in her fingers but would get up at 6 a.m. to prepare food,” another resident recalled, “It’s a popular place — I ordered takeout several times. She was warm, always packing extra kimchi and saying, ‘Eat more.’”

During questioning, the suspect reportedly said he could not remember the events because he had been drinking heavily. Police plan to hold the suspect in custody while they investigate the exact circumstances of the attack and any history of mental illness.

“We will establish exactly what the motive was,” said National Police Agency investigation chief Park Seong-ju at a press briefing.

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 MOON SANG-HYEOK, JUN YUL [[email protected]]