Woo Bum-kon (or Wou Bom-kon, February 24, 1955 – April 27, 1982) was a South Korean policeman and

spree killer A spree killer is someone who commits a criminal act that involves two or more murders or homicides in a short time, in multiple locations. The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics defines a spree killing as "killings at two or more locations ...

who murdered between 56 and 62 people and wounded 33 others in several villages in

Uiryeong County Uiryeong County () is a county in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. Uiryeong County has a population of 27,550 (2019) and is one of the least populated counties in South Korea. History In 1938, Lee Byung-chull, a resident of Uiryeong, fo ...

South Gyeongsang Province South Gyeongsang Province ( ko, 경상남도, translit=Gyeongsangnam-do, ) is a province in the southeast of South Korea. The provincial capital is at Changwon. It is adjacent to the major metropolitan center and port of Busan. The UNESCO World H ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

, during the night from April 26 to April 27, 1982, before committing suicide. Woo's rampage was the worst

mass shooting There is a lack of consensus on how to define a mass shooting. Most terms define a minimum of three or four victims of gun violence (not including the shooter or in an inner city) in a short period of time, although an Australian study from 20 ...

in modern history committed by a single perpetrator, and remains the third deadliest, only being surpassed later by the Norway attacks of July 22, 2011, and the

2017 Las Vegas shooting On October 1, 2017, Stephen Paddock, a 64-year-old man from Mesquite, Nevada, opened fire on the crowd attending the Route 91 Harvest music festival on the Las Vegas Strip in . From his 32nd-floor suites in the Mandalay Bay hotel, he fired ...

. It was also the deadliest deliberate single loss of life in South Korean history until the

Daegu subway fire The Daegu subway fire occurred on February 18, 2003, when an arsonist set fire to a train; 192 people died and 151 others were injured at the Jungangno station of the Daegu Metropolitan Subway in Daegu, South Korea. The fire had spread across ...

in 2003.

Background

Woo Bum-kon had served in the

Republic of Korea Marine Corps The Republic of Korea Marine Corps (ROKMC; ko, 대한민국 해병대, Daehanminguk Haebyeongdae), also known as the ROK Marine Corps or ROK Marines, is the marine corps of South Korea. The ROKMC is a branch of the Republic of Korea Navy respo ...

, where he was recognised as a skilled marksman until his discharge in 1978. From April 11 until December 30 of 1981, he served as a police officer and, with his marksmanship ability, was able to work as a guard at the

Blue House Cheong Wa Dae ( ko, 청와대; Hanja: ; ), also known as the Blue House, is a public park that formerly served as the executive office and official residence of the president of South Korea from 1948 to 2022. It is located in the Jongno distr ...

. However, Woo's excessive drinking habits and subsequent behavior caused him to be demoted to his position at Kungyu Village in

Uiryeong massacre

Prelude

On the afternoon of April 26, 1982, Woo had an argument with his live-in girlfriend, Chun Mal-soon (전말순), after she had woken him by swatting a fly on his chest. Enraged, Woo left the house and went to the police station, where he reported for duty at 4:00 p.m. According to early reports, he began drinking heavily, though eyewitnesses later stated that he did not appear drunk during his rampage. According to local officials, he would have been unable to cover of difficult, rocky terrain while intoxicated. At about 7:30 p.m., Woo returned home, assaulted his girlfriend and smashed their furniture before making his way to the reservists'

armory Armory or armoury may mean: * An arsenal, a military or civilian location for the storage of arms and ammunition Places *National Guard Armory, in the United States and Canada, a training place for National Guard or other part-time or regular mili ...

and gathering several weapons, consisting of two M2 carbines, 144-180 rounds of ammunition, and seven hand grenades. Some reports stated that the other officers were at a meeting, and he therefore managed to grab the weapons unnoticed, though others mentioned that he had intimidated the guards to gain access.

Victims

''Togok-ri (토곡리)''

*Jeon Un-suk (전은숙), 23 *Son Jin-tae (손진태), 26

''Apgok-ri (압곡리)''

*Gang Pan-im (강판임), 61 *Choi Bun-ee (최분이), 71 *Jeon Jong-jeong (전종정), 36 *Baek Jeom-ag (백점악), 36, wife of Jeon Jong-jeong *Lee Chun-su (이춘수), 50 *Son Jeong-hee (손정희), 50 *Yu Baek-am (유백암), 59 *Lee Pan-su (이판수), 50 *Mun Sun-ee (문순이), 44, wife of Lee Pan-su

''Ungye-ri (운계리)''

*Son Won-jeom (손원점), 51 *Shin Su-jeong (신수정), 9, daughter of Shin We-do *Shin Chang-sun (신창순), 13, daughter of Shin We-do *Park In-gil (박인길), 42 *Choi Jeong-nyeo (최정녀), 40, wife of Park In-gil *Park Kyung-suk (박경숙), 19, son of Park In-gil *Park Jae-cheol (박재철), 14, son of Park In-gil *Park Hyeon-suk (박현숙), 8, daughter of Park In-gil *Seol Sun-jeom (설순점), 49 *Yu Sun-ja (유순자), 19, daughter of Seol Sun-jeom *Kim Wol-sun (김월순), 28 *Jeon Dal-bae (전달배), 18 *Sin Yeong-lyeon (신경련), 43 *Yu Jeom-sun (유점순), 19 *Jin Pil-li (진필리), 19 *Jeon Yong-gil (전용길), 37 *Kim Ju-dong (김주동), 18 *Jin Il-im (진일임), 48 *Park Gab-jeo (박갑저), 38 *Park Myeong-lyeon (박명련), 32 *Park Mi-hae (박미해), 14

''Pyongchon-ni (평촌리)''

*Seo Hyeong-su (서형수), 27 *Seo Jeong-su (서정수), 22, brother of Seo Hyeong-su *Park Jong-deog (박종덕), 43 *Jeon Bok-sun (전복순), 63 *Park Bong-sun (박봉순), 41 *Ham So-nam (함소남), 51 *Lee Ta-sun (이타순), 46 *Lee Sun-du (이순두), 46 *Han Myeong-gyu (한명규), 53 *Choi Gyeong-jag (최경작), 43 *Seo Eum-seog (서음석), 20, son of Choi Gyeong-jag *Mun Byeong-hyeong (문병형), 8 *Mun Se-jeong (문세정), 2 *Gwak Gi-dal (곽기달), 43 *Gwak Ju-il (곽주일), 14, son of Gwak Gi-dal *Park Sun-deog (박순덕), 41, wife of Gwak Gi-dal *Jo Eul-sun (조을순), 56

''Other areas''

*Heo Ee-jung (허이중), 23, killed in Byeokgye-ri (벽계리) *Jo Gwi-nam (조귀남), 54, killed in Jukjeon-ri (죽전리) *Jo Myeong-lyul (조명률), 59, killed in Bonggok-ri (봉곡리) *Ha Gyeong-jae (하경재), 5 *Yu Lyang (유량), age unknown *Jo Yong-deog (조용덕), 46, Haman-gun

Perpetrator (suicide)

* Woo Bum-kon (우범곤), 27

Rampage begins

At approximately 9:30 p.m., Woo shot his first victim and entered the local post office, where he killed three phone operators and cut off the telephone lines. He next went to Torongni, where he threw a grenade and shot at passers-by in the marketplace, killing six people. He also wounded Chun Mal-soon, who had gone to investigate after hearing shots in the village. From that point on, he proceeded from village to village, taking advantage of his position as a police officer to gain entry to the houses and shoot their inhabitants. At 10:30 p.m., Woo took 18-year-old Kim Ju-dong (김주동) hostage and moved to Ungye-Ri (운계리), where he ordered Kim to get him a soft drink from a grocery store owned by 52-year-old Shin We-do (신외도). After getting what he had asked for, Woo killed Kim and then attacked the store owner and his family. Shin We-do managed to escape after being shot in the leg, though his wife Son Won-jeom (손원점) and his daughters Chang-sun (창순) and Su-jeong (수정) were killed. Woo continued his shooting at the market-place, killing a total of 18 people in that village, before making his way towards Pyongchon-Ni (평촌리). At Pyongchon-Ni, he shot a family of four in their beds and then went to a house, where a wake was in progress. When the owner of the house saw the armed policeman and asked what had happened, Woo explained that there was an alert as

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

n agents had been spotted. The man invited Woo into the house for dinner, during which the latter complained about his small salary and his transfer from Pusan to the countryside. Woo eventually began shooting at the guests after one of them had remarked that his ammunition did not look real. He killed twelve people in the house and a further eight in the streets, thus leaving a total of 24 people dead in Pyongchon-ni.

Police response, suspect's death

Although police were alerted within minutes of the first shots being fired, it took them an hour to gather a team of 37 officers to search for the gunman, and the national police headquarters in Seoul were not informed until 1:40 a.m. Around that time, just 4 km (2.5 mi) from the police station in Kungryu, Woo found refuge in a farmhouse belonging to 68-year-old Suh In-Su (서인수), whom he told that he was chasing a Communist infiltrator, and that the family should gather in the main room of the house so he could protect them. When the family gathered at his request, he held them hostage. Two hours later, police eventually caught up with him, and as forces closed in, Woo detonated two grenades, killing himself and three of his hostages. Suh himself survived gravely injured. Four rounds of ammunition and one hand grenade were recovered by police from inside the farmhouse.

Immediate aftermath

When the rampage finally ended, 55 people and Woo himself were dead, while 36 others were wounded, six of them fatally. One of the mortally wounded, a child who had been shot, died on May 8. At that time, 35 people were still being treated in hospitals in Jinju and

Masan Masan is an administrative region of Changwon, a city in the South Gyeongsang Province. It was formerly an independent city from 1949 until 30 June 2010, when it was absorbed to Changwon along with Jinhae. Masan was redistricted as two distric ...

. Chun Mal-soon later said that her boyfriend "suffered from an inferiority complex and had been bothered by villagers' comments on their living together unmarried". Later on, the provincial chief of police was suspended and four other officers were arrested for negligence of duty.

Aftermath

The Interior Minister of

, Suh Chung-hwa, and the national police chief, A Eung-mo, offered to resign as a form of atonement for Woo's rampage. Suh Chung-hwa, being held responsible for the incident by president

Chun Doo-hwan Chun Doo-hwan (; or ; 18 January 1931 – 23 November 2021) was a South Korean army general and military dictator who ruled as an unelected strongman from 1979 to 1980 before replacing Choi Kyu-hah as president of South Korea from 1980 to 198 ...

, resigned his commission on April 29, and

Roh Tae-woo Roh Tae-woo (; ; 4 December 1932 – 26 October 2021) was a South Korean politician and army general who served as the sixth president of South Korea from 1988 to 1993. Roh was a close ally and friend of Chun Doo-hwan, the predecessor leader ...

was appointed Interior Minister. A special parliamentary team was formed, consisting of 19 parliamentarians and led by Home Affairs Committee chairman

Kim Chong-hoh Kim Chong-hoh (November 30, 1935 – March 3, 2018) was a South Korean parliamentarian and Home Affairs Committee chairman.List of rampage killers A rampage killer has been defined as follows: This list should contain, for each category, the first fifteen cases with at least one of the following features: * Rampage killings with 6 or more dead * Rampage killings with at least 4 peopl ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Woo, Bum-Kon 1955 births 1982 suicides South Korean mass murderers South Korean spree killers South Korean murderers of children Suicide bombers Murder–suicides in South Korea Mass murder in 1982 South Korean police officers Republic of Korea Marine Corps personnel Danyang U clan People from Busan People from South Gyeongsang Province Suicides by explosive device in South Korea Spree shootings in South Korea Mass shootings in South Korea Mass murder in South Korea Male serial killers