Lee was born in 1976, the second of two sons to a well-to-do family. His father was a military officer and his mother, a graduate of Ewha Womans University, were both elite. But their upbringing and discipline was anything but elite. Whenever Lee was slow to learn or misbehave, verbal and physical abuse was meted out. It was abuse.
The abuse began in kindergarten and continued through high school. Lee became socially withdrawn and struggled in school. He suffered from bullying and violence at school and had difficulty making friends. Despite this, Lee excelled academically and was accepted into Korea University. When he returned, he was met with a cold shoulder from his parents, who told him he couldn’t get into Seoul National University.
University life was not smooth either. When he enlisted in the army to complete his military service, he struggled with his passive nature. His parents never visited him during his three years of service. When he returned home after his discharge, his parents continued their abusive behavior.
Ten days before the incident. Lee had gotten into a heated argument with her mother, the first time she had ever stood up to her parents. What started out as an argument over her brother’s near-runaway independence and her resentment that the couple had bought him an apartment escalated into a discussion of her past abuse. Her mother scolded her for bringing up the past, and her father, who had heard about the argument, criticized her.
Realizing that he could not repair the relationship by talking to his parents메이저놀이터, Lee fell into despair and locked himself out of their home. Eventually, he killed, mutilated, and disposed of his parents. When he went to trial, Lee was sentenced to death at the first trial. Lee’s brother asked for leniency, saying that his brother “seems to understand.” Members of the church Lee attended also submitted a petition to the court. The sentence was reduced to life imprisonment on appeal, and was affirmed. Mr. Lee is currently serving a life sentence.
Mr. Lee was a victim of child abuse as well as a perpetrator of sustained murder. After the case broke, public attention was focused on the former and harshly judged, but there have since been efforts to examine the latter, including a book titled “Was It So Hard to Say Sorry” by psychologist Dr. Hoon-koo Lee (a former Yonsei professor), who interviewed Lee and published it. The book’s title refers to a statement Lee made during the police investigation.