South Korean father admits killing family amid overwhelming debt crisis

Facing financial ruin, the man told police he drugged his family and drove them into the sea off Jindo Island

Struggling with mounting debts, a married father of two drove his car into the sea off South Korea’s southern island of Jindo, resulting in the deaths of his wife and teenage sons. The 49-year-old, who was only identified by the surname Ji, told authorities on Tuesday that his financial burdens had pushed him to such a desperate measure.

The man, who was employed as a rebar supervisor, found himself in a challenging financial situation, amassing around 160 million won (US$116,000) in debt due to missed payments to his workers and difficulties in managing contracts with construction companies.

During police interrogation, Ji confessed to having administered his wife’s prescribed sleeping pills to both her and their two sons, aged 18 and 16. He did this by disguising the pills as dietary supplements before intentionally driving their car into the sea at around 1.12am on Sunday.

He managed to escape by crawling out of the driver’s side window and drove away in a car supplied by a 49-year-old acquaintance named Kim. Both were arrested on Monday evening.

Earlier that same day, a local high school had reported that the younger son was mysteriously absent from class, which led police to initiate an investigation.

Authorities traced the family’s cellphones to Jindo Port and accessed CCTV footage showing the moment Ji’s vehicle entered the water. Before the incident, Ji had taken his family on a trip on Friday. The family had checked out of their accommodation the following evening, according to police reports.

The case is under investigation, and authorities are set to request Ji’s formal arrest. The incident has sparked outrage online, with many condemning his treatment of his family as if they were possessions.

“The perpetrator must face the harshest possible penalty,” South Korea’s women’s driving project Unni Cha said in a social media post, adding that the event was not an isolated incident, but “reveals the toxicity of patriarchal mindsets that view family as property”.

This tragic event is not an isolated incident, but highlights a concerning pattern in a society grappling with entrenched patriarchy.

In April, South Korean authorities arrested a man in his fifties for the alleged murder of five family members in Yongin, a city around 40km (25 miles) southeast of Seoul.

The man, surnamed Lee, allegedly strangled his elderly parents, his wife and their three daughters while they were asleep in their flat.

Lee claimed that he committed these acts out of fear that his suicide would leave his surviving family burdened with his substantial debts, which totalled tens of billions of won, as reported by the Korea JoongAng Daily.

He had also planned the murders in detail, including obtaining sleeping pills from a hospital.