Mudjima crimes, meaning “do not ask why” crimes in Korean, refer to crimes that have no direct reason or motive. This means that attackers target random victims for the sake of committing a crime. The first mass stabbing attack happened in Sillim Station, Seoul, and it was soon followed by another rampage in Seohyun Station, Bundang. It even led to a rape and murder crime in a Sillim-dong hiking park. After several Mudjima crimes took place in public spaces, citizens began to fear being the victims of these types of crimes. Sales of self-defense supplies soared on online shopping websites, with consumers striving to be able to defend themselves. Others tried to minimize their visits to public places, staying at home during the weekends. False murder threats are also being uploaded to internet communities after this series of successive crimes, increasing fear among citizens.
On July 21, Cho Seon, 33, killed one man and wounded three others with a knife. He took a taxi from Incheon Seogu, stole two weapons from a mart in Geumcheon-gu, and headed to Sillim Station. He stabbed a 22-year-old 18 times on a street close to Sillim Station and attacked three other men in their 30s; the victims had no former relationship with Cho. Another stabbing took place on August 3 at Seohyun Station in Bundang. Choi Won-jong killed one woman and injured 13 other people as he rammed pedestrians with his car and stabbed people inside the Bundang AK Plaza Department Store. After these two Mudjima crimes, copycat crimes and fake death threats have been occurring repeatedly, highlighting the police manpower shortage problem in South Korea.
A Social Sign of Isolation
Those who committed Mudjima crimes had certain features in common. According to Maeil News, the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office (SPO) announced that Cho was a reclusive loner who repeatedly failed to get a job, relied on alcohol, had no friends, and was immersed in internet communities and games. The SPO also predicted that Cho’s sense of inferiority to other same-aged men was expressed as hostility and rage. Choi, the Bundang attacker, was also living alone after dropping out of school because of sociophobia. Hankook Daily revealed that another Mudjima crime culprit, Choi Yoon-jong, who committed murder and rape in the local park of Sillim-dong, also had no friends and spent most of his time in his house or internet cafes.
According to the Korean Institute of Criminology and Justice (KICJ), only one of the Mudjima criminals was a woman, and 75 percent of these criminals were jobless and had previous convictions. Additionally, 58 percent of them have been diagnosed with mental health problems. This shows that Cho and Choi were not the only reclusive loners out of all Mudjima criminals; most of them had little sense of reality and were not able to empathize with others.
Dark Internet Communities
Instead of having face-to-face interactions with people in the real world, Mudjima criminals were very active in online communities where users could upload whatever they wanted anonymously. According to the SPO, Cho’s concerns and anxiety were amplified when he was sued in the online community where he felt a sense of belonging, causing him to remember the time when he was isolated in a youth detention center. Choi Won-Jong also looked for like-minded people in an online community. The SPO’s clinical psychological analysis revealed that Choi had persecutory delusions, causing him to be excessively wary of the environment around him, and he tried to protect himself by being aggressive and impulsive. These features were aggravated as he interacted with people in internet communities who had similar tendencies.
Online communities are not only places where these criminals find their grounds; it is also where murder threats are uploaded. After Choi posted a murder threat on the internet forum DC Inside and put it into action, numerous copycats followed suit on various platforms. According to The Korea Economic Daily, most of the murder threats that have been uploaded were written by users of DC Inside. Trusting that the anonymity of these internet websites will save them from being responsible for what they write, some users even verbally attack victims. Offending the victims of Mudjima crimes, such as teasing them that they were “weak” for being targeted, happens on a daily basis.
How to Prevent These Crimes
As a response to these crimes that are becoming more violent and brutal, the Minister of Justice, Han Dong-hoon, announced on August 9 that he would consider implementing a sentence of life in prison without parole, reinforce police manpower, and organize non-voluntary hospitalization of mental patients to alleviate citizens’ anxiety. However, there are professionals who oppose this idea, stating that these policies would not be effective in preventing Mudjima crimes. According to Professor Song Hyojong (Department of Sociology), while agreeing that reinforcement of police manpower would be effective in the short-term, strengthening punishment will not discourage criminals from committing these crimes. He explained, “This is because those who commit Mudjima crimes are not people who consider how hard they will be punished.”
Professor Song instead insists that the government should try to solve this problem on a more fundamental level. He explains that “Mudjima crimes are an outcome of very complex social problems of modern society. Providing work opportunities and generating social bonds can help socially isolated people rely on real-world relationships, not ones on the internet.” It is also important to raise awareness for mental well-being and the support systems available in Korea, as some of the Mudjima criminals have a record of mental illness. This may be regarded as the government trying to restrict those who have mental illnesses, regarding them as potential criminals, but it should rather be a process of the government helping patients to rehabilitate.
Successive Mudjima crimes form fear and anxiety among citizens, but it seems hard to solve this problem. The longevity of people’s interest and attention to this issue would matter substantially as long-term plans are necessary to prevent these crimes. As Mudjima crimes are an outcome of complex social problems such as social inequality, depression caused by a sense of inferiority, and isolation, trying to solve these problems would have significant effects on other problems that Korea faces.