Южнокорейские серийные убийцы: Семья Чичон и их последователи

South Korean serial killers

The Chijon Family (hangul=지존파); or Jijon Family) was a South Korean gang active between 1993 and 1994. The gang was founded by Kim Gi hwan, a former convict, and six other former prisoners and unemployed workers who shared his grudge against the rich. 'Chijon' is a name given to the gang by prosecutors working on the Kim had originally named his gang the Mascan, apparently believing the word to be of Greek origin and to signify 'ambition', though no Greek word of similar meaning and pronunciation can be identified.

Kim Gi hwan (김기환) Kim Gi hwan was the leader of the gang. He was 26 years old (all ages here are in Korean age). It was said that he was the top student in his class. He ranked amateur dan 1 in baduk ('go (game)' in Japanese). According to his report card, he skipped many days of school due to his family's financial problems. He left school during middle school grade 1 (age 13) because of this. Later on, he moved to Busan and worked in a shoe factory or a plywood factory, then moved to Seoul to do manual labor. He began to think of committing heinous acts after watching the news about corruption in the university entrance exams. Kim was the first of the gang members to be arrested and convicted for raping his ex friend's niece, and was sentenced to five years. The police at that time had not known that Kim already killed the gang's first victim. Moon Sang rok (문상록) He was 23 at the time. Prior to the gang, he already had 3 convictions. After sentencing, none of the murderers showed any trace of remorse. Kim Hyun yang told television reporters before his trial that his only regret was that he had not killed more rich kids. On November 2, 1995, all members of the Chijon family (except for Lee Kyung sook) were executed at Seoul Detention Center. Lee Kyung sook was just convicted of fleeing the scene of (a) crime(s).

During their arrest and a press conference, one of the gang members claimed that there were more of them out there. Due to the lack of information provided to the public at the time, it was widely assumed that all of the victims were wealthy people. At the same time of the 1996 North Korean commandos infiltration incident, there was a South Korean 9 man copycat gang of the Chijon Family. The copycat gang called themselves the Maggapa (막가파). The police arrested them on October 29, 1996.