Naked murderer Jung Jae-hwan. Why did he brutally murder his friend?

On the August 22 broadcast of SBS's Unanswered Questions, the truth behind the Gyeongsan friend murder case was investigated under the subtitle "The Naked Murderer and the Live Broadcast of Death - Why Did Jung Jae-hwan Kill His Friend?"

In the early hours of July 4, a brutal murder took place at an apartment in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, where a man murdered his friend of the same age in a gruesome manner.


In particular, the perpetrator subjected the victim to overkill and caused shock by roaming the streets for about an hour in a naked state, covered in blood, after the murder. During this process, he was captured stopping by a convenience store, taking a banana-flavored milk without paying, and casually walking past police cars heading to arrest him.

The perpetrator, in his 20s named Jung Jae-hwan, stabbed the victim some 50 times all over his face, neck, abdomen, and limbs, leaving bite marks so severe that chunks of flesh were torn off. The victim, who was brutally killed by him, was Heo Min-seok, also in his 20s, who had been his friend for 10 years.

Claiming that he was drunk and cannot remember the situation or motive at the time of the crime, Jung continues to feign total ignorance to this day.


However, before his death, Heo had called friends in Daejeon asking for help, and a 21-minute recording of the phone call made while they were heading to Jung's home in Gyeongsan vividly captured the situation at the time of the incident.

Heo repeatedly apologized while expressing his agony. He trembled with anxiety, saying, "Jae-hwan, it feels like my intestines are going to pop out. My intestines are coming out." Yet Jung continued his attacks while letting out eerie laughter.

Meanwhile, another friend, surnamed Ko, who was present at the scene and had been assaulted by Jung, drew regret as he could not remember anything due to intoxication. Jung had escalated the intensity of his violence against Heo only after Ko moved away to sleep.

Additionally, two large plastic bags of unknown purpose were found at the scene, leading friends to speculate that they might have been intended for mutilating or abandoning the body.

An expert analyzed the recording containing the situation at the time of the crime, noting that there likely was a preceding period of victimization before the recording began. The expert also expressed regret, pointing out that faint groans suggesting Heo was still alive could be heard even after the moment Jung was recorded leaving the house.


The expert further shocked viewers by analyzing that the voice of Jung saying, "Min-seok, say kimchi," indicated he likely took a verification photo of the victim after the crime.

Jung had shown violent tendencies after drinking in the past as well. Without any provocation, he would assault acquaintances or his pets, and at times engage in self-harm, showing drastic emotional swings between laughing and crying.

However, analyzing Jung's behavior captured on CCTV, an expert judged that he was neither heavily intoxicated nor physically constrained at the time of the crime.

That was evident as just before his arrest, Jung even asked a friend to send a luxury watch worth tens of millions of won and 20 million won in cash to his mother.


Jung had never held a steady job. Acquaintances testified that he began acting like an overnight millionaire after returning from brief stints working in Seoul and Southeast Asia.

Having moved into a newly built three-room apartment equipped with a safe and a money-counting machine at home, Jung flaunted his wealth by buying high-end luxury goods and replacing his supercar multiple times. Consequently, acquaintances suspected he worked as a cash courier for illegal gambling websites. It also caused shock to reveal that even his mother cared more about the luxury watch and Jung Jae-hwan than the worries of the victim and the bereaved family.

Exempted from military service due to a judgment of destructive impulse control and conduct disorder, Jung was described by an expert: "Even if someone is a psychopath, they fear social punishment and are not the type to be submissive." The expert analyzed, "It looks as though he enjoyed watching the victim suffer. Extreme anger and excitement—the perpetrator seems to have felt this as a form of pleasure."


Jung had displayed violence since his adolescence, but experts guessed there must have been a clear trigger that exploded his violent tendencies.

After becoming an adult, Jung assaulted acquaintances, and it was always the victim, Heo, who cleaned up the mess and stopped him. Explaining this, an expert noted, "The victim probably felt like someone suppressing his sense of omnipotence and desire for control. He seems to have had a personality that could not tolerate anyone—especially a friend who stopped his violence or approached him with good intentions—standing in the way of his actions."

The expert also drew attention by analyzing that failing to receive proper education at the right time and being abandoned by his parents seemed to have chronicled his inability to control his impulses.

(Photo: Yonhap News)