Suspect in the Gangjin Elementary School Student Serial Disappearance Case? Police: "The Luckiest Criminal Among All" [That's What I Want to Know]

*This content was translated by AI.View Original

'That's What I Want to Know' will cover the Gangjin elementary school student serial disappearance case.

On the 17th, SBS's current affairs and documentary program 'That's What I Want to Know' will meet a prime suspect in the serial disappearance of elementary school students, which has remained an unsolved mystery for 26 years, for the first time, engaging in a battle over the truth.

On June 15, 2000, Kim Seong-ju, a second-grade elementary school student, disappeared without a trace while waiting for her older brother after school in Gangjin, South Jeolla Province. A year later, on June 1, 2001, Kim Ha-eun, a first-grader returning from school, also failed to come home from a location just 1 kilometer away. It was a serial disappearance that occurred within a year in a small town with a population of 18,000.

Given that a young elementary school girl who was alone on her way home from school had disappeared, human trafficking and kidnapping were suspected, but the perpetrator did not make any contact demanding ransom or issuing threats. Where are the children, whose life or death and whereabouts have remained unconfirmed for 26 years since then?

The police identified Ma, a man in his early 20s who had lived nearby, as a prime suspect. Ma had confessed to killing and abandoning the two missing children while undergoing an investigation by the Prosecution Service in 2010 for a separate child sexual crime case. Although he accompanied investigators during a scene verification, for some reason, he was not arrested as a suspect.

The investigating police officer at the time stated, "I think he is the luckiest criminal among all the criminals I know."

Ma suddenly retracted his confession and denied any connection to the serial disappearance case. Furthermore, Ma's ex-wife testified that she had seen a videotape containing child sexual exploitation footage of a child presumed to be Ha-eun. However, as the videotape was not found, Ma slipped out of the investigation smoothly.

Ma, who killed his brother-in-law one year after Ha-eun's disappearance and served 15 years in prison, then received an 8-year sentence for raping a woman with an intellectual disability the year after his release, and was released in September this year. The production team conducted formal interviews with him for the first time, engaging in conversations totaling 12 hours over three sessions.

Ma said, "Even if I really did do it, nothing remains. I would have destroyed everything out of fear."

Ma, who calls himself the king of a fictional country called "Challan-guk" and hides perverted pedophilic messages in bizarre ciphers. Although there are many suspicious circumstances linking him to the serial disappearance case, he displayed confidence by asking if there is direct evidence. Who is Ma, and is he truly unrelated to the serial disappearances? What will be the outcome of the psychological warfare and game of truth with Ma that took place over 12 hours?

Meanwhile, 'That's What I Want to Know' airs every Saturday at 11:10 p.m.

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*This content was translated by AI.View Original