Support pours online for SUNY graduate found dead
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/ Courtesy of GoFundMe
By Lee Ji-hye
The horrendous discovery of a woman’s body packed in a suitcase buried in cement last month has caused uproar online and in the national media.
The brother of Kim Sun-jung, 25, better known as Sunny Kim, took to Facebook over his sister's death, whose body was found in the hills of Jechun, North Chungcheong Province, on May 18.
"The criminal was my sister's abusive 24-year-old boyfriend from Gimhae, surnamed Lee,” wrote Kim Sun-baek, 21. “His kind character was a mask, because whenever they would fight, he would end it with violence."
Kim then described his first encounter with the alleged offender, who turned himself in to police on May 16.
Kim's body was packed inside a suitcase, buried, and covered in cement / Courtesy of North Chungcheong Province Jecheon Police Department
"Not one flinch of apology did we see in his eyes after brutally damaging my sister's corpse. He had sought a perfect crime."
According to police, Lee claimed to have carried his girlfriend's body to the mountains in the suitcase. He then buried it in a meter-deep hole and covered it with cement.
Police said Lee attempted suicide at a hotel in Busan, where he and Kim Sun-jung first met. When the attempt failed, he called an ambulance.
He then turned himself into Busan Police, who took him to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Gwanak Police Station, near where he and Kim had been living.
The victim’s family met Lee on May 19, in the lobby of the Gwanak Police Department.
“As long as I live, I will never forgive you,” Kim’s mother screamed at Lee. “You don't even deserve to be judged by law. You're not even a human being."
She said she thought her daughter was in America. “She had told me that she finally got a great job back in Korea, and everyone was dying to see her. I never imagined I would see her body like this,” Kim’s mother said.
Police said there were no reports of the victim being missing before Lee turned himself in.
They said an arrest warrant was requested for Lee on May 20.
The body was badly damaged but there was no trace of strangling or physical violence, police said.
The results of an autopsy have not been announced, and no charges on Lee have yet been laid.
The banner created by Kim's sorority to support the bereaved family
"I ask everyone to share this story so that people that choose to give up on humanity like that criminal do not repeat their actions, and that my beautiful sister may rest in peace," Kim’s brother wrote on Facebook.
"My sister was covered in bruises inside and out, so she broke up with him. But no one knew about this because Lee contacted us through her phone as if nothing had happened."
Kim Sun-jung was a State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany graduate, and also a member of the school's sorority, Kappa Phi Lambda Upsilon Chapter.
The sorority has launched an online fundraiser for the bereaved family.
“In an effort to support her family in their time of grief we have set up a ‘Gofundme’ account that will be passed to her family to help with funeral costs,” the group wrote.
The group had raised $27,572 as of June 2.
The Kim family’s story went viral after a documentary about the case aired on national television.
“She left this world with a new name -- people now refer to her as the ‘Cement burial’ woman, when she was a warm-hearted sister to me,” Kim wrote.
"My parents worked hard to find the money to support my sister. Our family is struggling with paying back the loans for my sister's tuition," Kim said.
"I wish to see the offender face a severe penalty ㅡ which isolates him from this world forever."
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