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Yeongcheon John Doe was a young man found beaten to death in Yeongcheon, South Korea, in 1930. His body was initially identified by a woman as her missing son, Park Chang-soo, but this was later disproven. The decedent remains unidentified.
Case[]
On 29 April 1930, a woman from the Yeongcheon village traveled to the mountain behind only to discover the brutalized corpse of a young man on one of the hills. Since murders and even minor thefts were rare in the rural area of Yeongcheon, the woman ran back to her village and alerting the entire village. Due to South Korea being under Japanese occupation in 1930, the Japanese police were summoned to investigate the scene and calm the chaos.
The victim was found to be beaten beyond recognition. Investigators noted the towel used in the strangulation and the carrier nearby. Given the village's small population, authorities expected to identify the victim quickly. After two days, they determined that a teenager named Park Chang-soo had recently gone missing.
Park had been working as a labourer at a local inn. Witnesses reported that on 26 April, he had been seen being beaten with a switch by Ko Ok-dan, the innkeeper, and Cho Ki-jun, a fellow worker. Park was not seen again after that incident. Ko and Cho were detained for questioning. Ko denied involvement in Park's disappearance, but after two days of interrogation—reportedly involving physical coercion—Cho confessed to the killing, and Ko later gave a similar statement. Park's mother identified the body as her son, although she noted the clothes did not match what he had been wearing when last seen.
Cho stated that Ko was the second wife of a wealthy man named Han Baek-won, who had allowed her to operate the inn. Ko, then in her early twenties, was reportedly popular with male guests, and one visitor had asked her to run away with him. Ko responded in a way that did not reject the proposal outright. Park allegedly informed Han about the exchange, which led to Ko being reprimanded. Ko then planned to kill Park with Cho's help. According to the confession, they lured Park to the mountains that night, where they beat and strangled him using the towel.
Cho and Ko were sentenced to 10 and 15 years in prison at their trial. Ko attempted to appeal this ruling but was unsuccessful, and she was left with her 15-year sentence.
Misidentification[]
On 18 October 1930, months after the trial and burial, Park Chang-soo returned home alive. His mother, initially believing him to be a ghost, eventually recognized him. Park explained that he had lost consciousness during the attack and later fled to another village to work, not returning due to fear of another attempt on his life.
The incident raised serious questions about the true identity of the boy who had been buried in Park's grave. Criticism followed regarding the investigation and the reliability of the identification. Some theorized that Park's mother may have been pressured to confirm the body's identity by authorities. The body had been dead for at least a week before she saw it, and the condition of the remains may have made visual identification difficult. Her remark about the clothes not matching was reportedly ignored. At the time of Park's return, both the body and the clothing had already been handed over to the family and buried. The clothing had been lost, and no further examination could be made.
Ko and Cho were declared innocent after Park's return. Although the prosecutor initially refused to reopen the case, they were later granted a retrial due to evidence that their confessions may have been coerced. Both were released but did not receive any form of compensation, as Japanese law at the time did not provide for legal redress in wrongful conviction cases.
The identity of the boy initially believed to be Park Chang-soo remains unknown. It is unclear whether he was an unrelated victim or if other individuals were involved. It is also often theorized that the person who returned in October was not actually Park, but an impersonator, although no evidence has supported this claim. Likewise, no evidence has emerged to support the idea that Ko and Cho killed someone else by mistake. As the body was buried in an unmarked grave, it is now considered lost.
Clothing and accessories[]
- A-frame carrier used for farming.
- Small towel.
Sources[]
- Shin Don-gah (Korean)