I cover a wide range of stories about Korean society — one of the most dynamic places in the world. To me, journalism means being on the ground, uncovering untold stories and amplifying marginalized voices, especially in an era when AI is reshaping the media landscape. That’s why I’m always here to listen. Tips and stories are welcome — feel free to reach out via email. Before becoming a journalist, I traveled through 24 countries over 702 days, served two years as a military police officer in the Republic of Korea Air Force and later studied filmmaking at the Korea National University of Arts.
Wave of child murders by cash-strapped parents stirs national alarm
A man identified only by his surname, Ji, appears for a pretrial detention hearing at Gwangju District Court in Gwangju, South Jeolla Province, June 4. He is accused of killing his wife and two teenage sons by driving their car into the sea in Jindo, South Jeolla Province, amid financial struggles. Yonhap
By Park Ung
Experts blame cultural mindset of parent-child link as key cause
In May, Ji, 49, whose full name has not been disclosed, traveled with his family to South Jeolla Province. After dinner, he and his wife gave their two sons energy drinks mixed with sleeping pills.
A few hours later, the couple drove their car into the sea with the boys inside. When the vehicle hit the water, Ji panicked and escaped alone through the driver’s side window.
Later arrested on charges of murder and assisting suicide, Ji told police he was overwhelmed by nearly 200 million won ($143,900) in debt, which he said had accumulated after he was not paid for supervising rebar crews at a construction site. He believed that if he and his wife died, the financial burden would fall on their sons.
The case is one of several recent family tragedies in Korea linked to economic hardship. In a country with one of the world’s highest suicide rates, incidents in which parents kill their children before taking their own lives underscore the growing urgency of the nation’s suicide crisis.
A car is lifted from the waters near Jindo Port in Jindo, South Jeolla Province, June 2. Authorities allege a man identified only by his surname, Ji, drove the vehicle into the sea, killing his wife and two teenage sons amid financial struggles. Yonhap
On Tuesday, three people believed to be family members were found dead inside a car on Yeongjong Island in Incheon, prompting a police investigation.
A day earlier, four family members — a couple in their 40s and their two teenage children — were found dead in a parked car at an apartment complex in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. A suicide note found at the scene pointed to the family’s financial struggles.
Korea faces a serious suicide crisis. Statistics Korea reports that in 2023, the suicide rate stood at 27.3 per 100,000 people — roughly twice the average among OECD countries.
The suicide rate is closely tied to economic conditions. A study by the Korean Association of Health Economics and Policy, examining data from 16 major regions between 2000 and 2022, found that suicide rates were lower in areas with fewer welfare recipients and more fiscal independence.
What’s particularly alarming, as recent cases show, is the rise in parents killing their children before taking their own lives.
A study by child advocacy group Save the Children found that between 2014 and 2023, there were 102 court rulings involving parents attempting murder-suicide, involving 147 children. Sixty-six died, and 81 survived. Seventy-three percent of the victims were under age 9, and 76 percent of the incidents occurred at home.
A police line is set up outside a home in Yeongam County, South Jeolla Province, where a man in his 50s is believed to have killed four family members before taking his own life, Sept. 17, 2023. Korea Times photo by Kim Jin-young.
Many experts say that murder-suicides within families that involve children reflect a cultural mindset in which parental identity is deeply tied to their offspring.
“In Korea, there’s an excessive tendency for parents to equate their children with themselves. This deep belief that parents own their children, are entirely responsible for them, and think as one, can lead to murder-suicide,” Lim Myung-ho, a psychology professor at Dankook University, told The Korea Times.
He added that in East Asian societies, family cohesion is often so strong that other family members are seen as extensions of oneself.
“There’s a strong tendency to over-identify — to think, ‘We are one body, we share the same thoughts.’ This kind of excessive identification can be dangerous.”
A 2022 study published in the Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences 21 on cases where parents kill their children and then themselves lends support to this perspective.
The study notes that in East Asian cultures shaped by Confucian family values, parents and children are often seen as sharing the same fate. Within this context, a parent’s personal crisis is seen as inseparable from the child’s, leading some to view the act of killing both oneself and one’s child as a single, unified family tragedy.
Bark Hyung-min, a senior research fellow at the Korean Institute of Criminology and Justice, concurs that treating children as possessions rather than independent individuals is a key factor behind such tragedies. To prevent them, he emphasized the importance of stronger education and welfare systems.
“We need to change the traditional belief that children are a parent’s sole responsibility through shifts in social attitudes and education,” Bark said. “Stronger safety nets that ensure children can be properly raised without their parents can also help dispel the idea that killing them is an act of care.”