Gwangju schoolgirl murder suspect admits rape-murder charge

Jang Yoon-gi, a suspect in the murder of a high school student and an assault with a weapon on another student, is taken out of Gwangju Seobu Police Station, May 14. Newsis

Jang Yoon-gi, the 23-year-old suspected of killing a high school girl in Gwangju, admitted to the rape-murder charge on Monday, reversing his earlier claim that the killing was the result of an impulse and not sexually motivated.

His admission was made only after a dashboard camera video clip showing his crime was collected as evidence through the prosecution's supplementary investigation. Jang's case has added to controversy over the government's move to strip prosecutors of their supplementary investigative powers amid systemic failures within the local police.

At a court hearing in Gwangju, Jang, who was indicted last month on charges of stabbing and killing the 16-year-old girl in the southwestern city in May, told the court “Yes” when asked whether he admitted to the charges, including full rape-murder charge.

Following his arrest, Jang had claimed the murder was the result of an impulse, repeatedly saying he wanted to kill someone before taking his own life. The police initially forwarded the case with simple murder charges.

The prosecution, however, upgraded the charges to rape-murder on indictment, citing several new key findings, including a damaged sex doll discovered at his residence; the fact that he had deliberately left his car's rear door open just before the attack; and similarities to a prior sexual offense against a different victim, as Jang is also suspected of stalking, confining and sexually assaulting a foreign female coworker on May 3.

During a previous hearing on June 22, Jang admitted to the murder charge but said he would clarify his position on the rape-murder charge at the next trial after viewing the dashboard cam video footage. As he and his lawyer confirmed the footage collected from a car parked near the crime scene, he admitted to the rape-murder charge.

While simple murder under the Criminal Act carries a potential sentence of death, life imprisonment or a fixed term of five years or more, rape-murder falls under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes, which limits sentencing to either life imprisonment or the death penalty.

Jang's admission has intensified scrutiny of the conduct of the local police team that handled the initial investigation, and the case has widened into a broader scandal over systemic failures as the result of unchecked police oversight.

The alleged cover-up has drawn particular public anger because Jang's father, a serving police officer, is suspected of colluding with local police to tamper with critical evidence in the case.

Prosecutors and investigators from a special probe team are examining allegations that officers at the Gwangju Gwangsan Police Station omitted or destroyed key evidence pointing to a sexually motivated murder, including the sex doll found at Jang's residence and cable ties found in his car. They are also looking into suspicions that the police leaked confidential probe information to Jang's father to help him tamper with the evidence.

One officer at the police station was arrested for evidence-tampering, while the former chief of the station and the head of its criminal investigations division are under investigation.

Jang faces additional charges in separate proceedings, including stalking, confining and sexually assaulting a foreign coworker, secretly filming a minor on seven occasions between June and July 2025 while serving as a public service worker and attacking another student with a knife when they tried to intervene in the attack of the high school girl.

Before the hearing, the victim's mother addressed the court.

"Please hand down the heaviest penalty the law allows — the death penalty — to this monstrous individual who took my daughter's precious life and completely destroyed our family's lives," she said. "The National Police Agency must thoroughly investigate the allegations of a systemic lax investigation and cover-up in this case and launch a full reinvestigation."