A university student murdered his ex's parents in 2014. He became Korea's youngest death row inmate.

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A university student murdered his ex's parents in 2014. He became Korea's youngest death row inmate.

Published: 03 Feb. 2026, 12:53

CHO JUNG-WOO
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Jang Jae-jin, 25, fixes his hair in an elevator as he heads to his ex-girlfriend’s home on May 19, 2014. [DAEGU METROPOLITAN POLICE AGENCY]

[KOREAN CRIME FILES #14]

Behind the glitz and glamour seen in pop culture, Korea’s grimmest and most harrowing crime stories, some more well-known than others, continue to haunt society today. The Korea JoongAng Daily takes a deep dive into some of these stories, sharing a glimpse into the darker side of society as well as the most up-to-date known facts. — Ed.

“Hello, I’m here to inspect the plumbing in your boiler room and bathroom.”

At around 5:40 p.m. on May 19, 2014, the doorbell rang at the fourth-floor apartment in the southeastern city of Daegu. The voice on the intercom was young.

He said there was a problem on the eighth floor and that building-wide inspections were underway.

The check would take no more than 10 to 20 minutes, he added.

The door opened. Inside was a married couple in their 40s and 50s.

The purported plumber walked into the bathroom connected to the couple’s bedroom, looked around and left. About 40 minutes later, at around 6:20 p.m., he returned. He said more work was needed.

“The repairs are taking a while,” the 48-year-old woman said.

Moments later, the man sprayed black spray paint into her face. He stabbed her in the head and struck her with a hammer.

Her husband rushed in. Panicked, he tried to flee, reaching the front door. The attacker caught him , beat him with a hammer and stabbed him.

Both were dead at the scene.

The abusive ex

The man disguised as a plumber was Jang Jae-jin, 25, a university student in Daegu. After killing the couple, he picked up the woman’s phone and sent a message to her daughter, urging her to come home early. The daughter was his ex-girlfriend.

At school, Jang was known as a capable and outgoing student. He led a club and served as president of the university’s club association. In early 2014, he began dating the daughter, a 19-year-old first-year student who had joined his club. Their relationship lasted about two months, from Feb. 14 until April.

The young woman decided to end the relationship after learning that Jang had spoken about her behind her back to one of her friends.

“Why did you talk about me to my friend?” she asked.

Jang Jae-jin reenacts the killing of his ex-girlfriend’s parents at an apartment in Dalseo District, Daegu, on May 23, 2014. [NEWS1]

Jang then slapped her — at least five times, according to the court.

When she stopped answering his calls and refused to meet him, he began following her.

One day on campus, he found her and demanded that she go with him to a taxi stand so they could go to his home. When she refused, he hit and kicked her. He dragged her to his house and continued beating her. Her injuries required three weeks of medical treatment.

Her parents soon learned of the violence. They contacted Jang’s parents. Word spread at school, and Jang was stripped of his position as president of the club association.

Enraged by his removal, he went near his former girlfriend’s home to protest. He did not see her. In later testimony, Jang said that after learning that the parents had contacted his own family about his attempts to reach their daughter, he decided to kill them.

Handwritten memo by Jang Jae-jin [SCREEN CAPTURE]

The plot

On May 10, 2014, Jang began planning the crime. He wrote down how to enter the apartment and where to find the tools he would need. He prepared black spray paint, knives and a bag of flour to soak up blood on the floor. He packed disinfectant for himself and spare clothes.

On May 19, he returned to the apartment disguised as a plumber. He had even written a script in his notebook, detailing what to say at the door.

After the murders at his ex-girlfriend's home, Jang took two bottles of soju from the refrigerator and drank them. He then sent KakaoTalk messages to the daughter, posing as her mother and asking her to come home early.

A CCTV footage shows Jang Jae-jin leaving an apartment in Dalseo District, Daegu, after killing the parents of his ex-girlfriend on May 20, 2014. DAEGU METROPOLITAN POLICE AGENCY]

She arrived after midnight.

As she entered, she screamed when she saw her father bleeding in the living room, his body covered with a blanket. Jang grabbed her by the hair and dragged her into a room, telling her that both of her parents were still alive. As he held her there, he spoke at length about their relationship and about his removal from the club presidency.

When she tried to report what was happening to the police, Jang blocked her and took away her phone. She begged to see her parents. He led her to the bathroom, where her mother lay dead in a pool of blood.

Believing that her father might still be alive, the daughter pleaded with him.

“I will do anything to let my father live,” she cried.

After hearing she would do anything for him, he pulled her back to the living room, where the father was covered with a blanket. There, Jang sexually assaulted her.

Only then did she realize that her father was also dead.

Overwhelmed by panic and fear after seeing that her father had already been killed, she began harming herself and tried to escape. Jang locked her inside the apartment. She eventually jumped from the veranda.

Luckily, a security guard at the complex found her and called the police. She survived but suffered a fractured pelvis and a concussion and required 112 days of hospital treatment.

After the crime

Jang went home.

On the way, he stopped at a supermarket, where he bought alcohol, snacks and a knife. He drank and fell asleep. At around 1 p.m. that afternoon, police arrested him at his home. He had been identified as the prime suspect based on the daughter’s testimony.

Police arrest and transfer Jang Jae-jin to a police station on May 20, 2014, on suspicion of murdering his ex-girlfriend’s parents. [JOONGANG ILBO]

Asked why he bought alcohol and a knife after the killings, Jang told investigators, “I was planning to turn myself in after having a drink at home for the last time. But the police came and arrested me.”

He initially refused to explain why he had purchased the knife. Only after police showed him CCTV footage of the transaction did he speak, saying he had intended to use it to kill himself.

The daughter later testified that Jang had told her he planned to kill her friends as well, a remark that suggested the violence might not have ended with her parents.

To classmates and acquaintances, Jang had seemed energetic and upbeat, a student who thrived in leadership roles.

A court-ordered psychiatric evaluation painted a different picture. It described a man consumed by his own desires, largely indifferent to others and intensely reactive to criticism.

At his first trial, Jang told the judges that “the crime could not be undone and that he would accept a life sentence without complaint.” The court found his words hollow. He was sentenced to death.

Before the trial, he had submitted no letters of remorse. Only later did he file 60 pages of them, an abrupt reversal that did little to sway the court.

The Supreme Court upheld the sentence in 2015, making it final. The ruling was rare in a country that has not carried out an execution in decades.

Emergency responders transfer the bodies of Jang Jae-jin's victims at an apartment in Dalseo District, Daegu, on May 20, 2014. [YONHAP]

Judges primarily cited four reasons — the crime was meticulously planned and carried out with exceptional brutality; the harm inflicted on the victims was irreparable; Jang showed no genuine remorse; and the risk of reoffending was high.

His record already included a one-year suspended sentence for violence during his military service in the Marine Corps from February 2010 to November 2011.

Jang became the youngest person on death row in Korean history. He remains in a cell at Daegu Prison, where the sentence has yet to be carried out.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [[email protected]]

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A university student murdered his ex's parents in 2014. He became Korea's youngest death row inmate.

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