The news of that day has passed, but its meaning remains with us today. "That Day in History" reads the present through the records of the past.
At 6:54 p.m. on May 30, 2024, in an officetel in Daechi-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, a 64-year-old man named Park Hak-sun stabbed to death a woman in her 50s, identified as A, whom he had been dating, and her daughter, identified as B, in her 30s.
The crime occurred immediately after a breakup notice. That day, Park heard A declare an end to their relationship at a coffee shop near the mother and daughter's office. Having harbored resentment over A's family's persistent opposition to the relationship, he went up to the office saying he would "confirm it directly with the daughter" and wielded a knife at B. He then chased down A as she fled and killed her as well.
A died at the scene, and B died while being transported. After the crime, Park fled by car, changing his means of transportation several times before being arrested near Namtaeryeong Station at around 7:45 a.m. the following day.
The case was also recorded as the first instance in which police disclosed a suspect's identity after the "mugshot disclosure law" (the Act on Disclosure of Identity of Serious Crime Suspects) took effect in January 2024. At the time, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Identity Disclosure Review Committee released Park's name, age, and mugshot, stating that "the cruelty of the crime and the gravity of the harm are recognized, and there is public interest, including the preventive effect against similar crimes."
At trial, Park's side argued that the crime was "impulsive," but prosecutors sought the death penalty. Prosecutors called it "an extreme, life-disregarding murder in which he brutally killed not only the woman but also her daughter upon receiving a breakup notice, driven by obsession and a violent disposition," and dismissed the impulsive-crime claim as "a brazen argument aimed at receiving even a slightly lighter sentence."
In November 2024, the first-instance court handed down a life sentence, saying that while it was "difficult to conclude that the death penalty is justified," he "must be permanently isolated from society and live a life of atonement for the rest of his life."
In April 2025, the appeals court upheld the ruling and rejected the impulsiveness claim, stating that "it is recognized that he proceeded with the crime in a state of having resolved to kill." On both occasions, the bereaved family expressed anguish, saying the sentence was "far too lenient."
In May 2024, when the case broke, South Korea was seething as dating violence cases erupted one after another. On May 21, just ten days before Park's crime, a man in his 20s in Gwangjin-gu stabbed to death his girlfriend who had asked to break up, and on May 6 of the same month, a medical student at a prestigious university killed his girlfriend on the rooftop of a building near Gangnam Station. Three murders prompted by breakups occurred in succession within a single month.
The figures had already been sounding the alarm. Even as total murder cases fell more than 30 percent, from 1,095 in 2018 to 757 in 2022, murders in which the perpetrator was a romantic partner instead rose from 68 to 74.
The number of suspects arrested for dating violence increased from 9,823 in 2019 to 13,939 in 2023, and from January to April 2024 alone, 4,400 were apprehended—an average of 36 per day. During the same period, however, the detention rate hovered at around 2 percent on average, and perpetrators of dating-related murders were not even tallied separately.
A gap in the law was also pointed out. The Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Domestic Violence applies only to legal marriages or cohabiting relationships, and no independent law directly governing violence occurring in simple dating relationships existed.
In the 22nd National Assembly, discussions on enacting a special law to prevent dating violence continued, and a consensus formed on the need for legislation, but concrete lawmaking lagged. Only in September 2025 did a bill to protect dating violence victims alongside stalking victims pass the National Assembly's Gender Equality and Family Committee.
The Daechi-dong case, in which a single phrase—"Let's break up"—claimed two lives, starkly demonstrated how lethal the obsession and rage arising from a romantic relationship can become. It took more than a year for the legal mechanisms to protect victims to be put in place. And during that time, the cases kept coming.
