Police reveal the identity of teacher who killed 7-year-old girl

The identity of the teacher who murdered Kim Ha-neul (8) at an elementary school in Daejeon on February 10 has been released. The 48-year-old woman is named Myeong Jae-wan.

The Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency released Myeong's name, age, and mugshot (a photo taken by an investigation agency of a criminal) on Wednesday. The disclosure of Myeong's personal information followed a decision made the previous day by the Personal Information Disclosure Review Committee, which considered the brutality of the crime, the gravity of the damage, and the opinions of the victim's bereaved family. The disclosure was made a day after Mr. Myeong expressed ‘no objection’ in writing.

Myeong's information will be posted on the Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency's website through April 11. The three mugshots are of Myeong's front, left, and right faces. In the released photos, Myeong's neck shows clear signs of having undergone a self-inflicted vein stitching surgery shortly after the crime.

According to the police, Myeong had planned and prepared for the murder a week before the crime, searching for the keyword ‘murder’ on the internet. On the day of the crime, she bought a 28-centimeter-long knife with a 16-centimeter blade at a kitchenware store near the school and stored it in the audio-visual room. The audio-visual room is where Myeong lured Kim out of the afterschool class to commit the crime. “It appears to be a case of 'random anger release,' in which a person commits a crime against someone weaker than him or her after accumulating anger due to family conflict or workplace problems, or self-anger,” said Kim Jae-chun, chief of the Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency's homicide division.

The police sent Myeong to the Daejeon District Prosecutor's Office on the suspicion of violating the weighted punishment for certain crimes act (inducement of intoxication under the age of 13). Murder is punishable by death, at least five years in prison, or life imprisonment, but luring and killing a minor under the age of 13 is punishable by death or life imprisonment.


Kim Tae Young live@donga.com