The news of that day has passed, but its meaning remains with us today. "That Day, Today" reads the present through the records of the past. — Editor's note
On Sept. 17, 2016, a shocking crime took place on Jeju Island during the Chuseok holiday.
Kim Sung-hyun, a 61-year-old woman praying alone at a Catholic church in Jeju City, was stabbed repeatedly by a Chinese tourist she had never met.
Kim had gone to the church to pray, as she usually did. But that morning, Chen Guo-rui, a Chinese man who was 50 at the time, entered the church, attacked her without warning and fled.
Kim was taken to a hospital, but her condition was critical. She died the next morning, on the 18th, from excessive bleeding caused by her stab wounds.
The words she left in her final moments were not of resentment toward her attacker.
"Forgive the man who did this."
A Knife Attack on a Praying Woman and a Bizarre Claim About a Chip
Police tracked Chen's movements using closed-circuit television footage and arrested him about seven hours after the attack.
During questioning, Chen told police the Chinese Communist Party had implanted a chip in his head that was controlling him, and said he had committed the crime so he would not have to return to China. During his trial, he was also reported to have stated that he believed he would be saved if he committed a crime at a religious site.
As the investigation progressed, however, evidence emerged that the attack had not been purely impulsive.
Investigators found that Chen had bought the knife two days before the attack and had visited the church twice to look it over. He also told police that he had chosen an adult woman as his target, ruling out children and men.
A Random Killing That Shook Jeju and Prompted Calls for Action on Foreign Crime
The case sent shockwaves through Jeju.
Only about a week earlier, on the 9th of the same month, Chinese tourists had assaulted a restaurant owner in Jeju City. When the church killing followed, residents' anxiety about crime by foreign nationals rose sharply.
Calls grew in particular to abolish or overhaul the visa-free entry system that allows visitors to stay on Jeju for a set period without a visa. After the case became known, an online petition drive demanding an end to the system took shape.
Police later expanded their foreign affairs units to strengthen their response to crime by foreign nationals, and the Jeju provincial government and immigration authorities reviewed measures to improve management of foreign tourists and the entry system. Chinese students in South Korea, meanwhile, held street memorials for Kim and campaigned against letting one person's crime turn into hatred toward all Chinese people.
Courts Find a Carefully Planned Crime, Impose 30 Years on Appeal
The courts also concluded that the attack had been planned.
Prosecutors sought a life sentence. In February 2017, the trial court sentenced Chen to 25 years in prison, noting that he had prepared the crime meticulously, including scouting the site over the two days beforehand, and had offered no genuine remorse or apology. The court did factor into its sentence a psychiatric evaluation finding that he had diminished mental capacity due to a delusional disorder at the time.
The sentence grew heavier on appeal. In April of the same year, the Jeju division of the Gwangju High Court overturned the lower court's ruling and imposed 30 years in prison. It found the earlier sentence far too light, citing the brutal and premeditated nature of the attack and the fact that the victim was a stranger chosen at random.
The church Kim attended also changed after the killing. It had previously left its doors open even outside Mass hours, but afterward it began restricting entry by outsiders at times when parishioners were not present.
After Kim's death, a posthumous collection of more than 120 poems she had written over the years was published under the title "The Scent of Chrysanthemums."
