Bereaved family releases the identify of stalking victim and asks for strict punishment for her assailant

A picture of Yi Eun-chong, a homicide victim killed by her stalker, released by Yi’s family. Captured from Nate Pann

The family of a woman who was stabbed to death by her stalker--an ex-boyfriend--released a picture of the victim and her name asking the state to impose strict punishment for her assailant. The one-year anniversary of the homicide at Sindang Station, also committed by a stalker, is just four days away, but the state has failed to prevent similar stalking crimes.

On September 8 on Nate Pann, an online bulletin board, a post was published with the title, “My sister died after being stalked.”

The person who wrote the post was a bereaved family member of the victim, Yi Eun-chong. According to the post, the assailant was “Eun-chong’s ex-boyfriend.” The two happened to meet in a tennis club and developed into lovers. Later the victim introduced her boyfriend, and the two worked in the same company. The writer continued, “My sister met the man on condition that they keep their relationship a secret, but the man suddenly wanted to go public,” and said, “Since my sister already had one failed marriage, she was only interested in dating, but the man pressed her to get married. When his obsession and their arguments became more frequent, she told him she wanted to end the relationship, and that’s when it (the stalking) started.”

The perpetrator, A, is charged with stabbing Yi to death in the hallway of an apartment in Nonhyeon-dong, Namdong-gu, a district in Incheon, at around 5:53 a.m. July 17. According to the police, Yi reported A for date violence to the Hanam Police Station in Gyeonggi on February 19, and she filed a report against A for violating the Act on Punishment of Crime of Stalking on June 2. On June 9, when A was still being investigated, he was arrested on the scene while wandering around Yi’s house. The next day, the Incheon District Court ordered provisional measures no. 2 and no. 3, which prohibited A from “coming within 100 meters of the victim or the victim’s residence,” and from “accessing the victim through telecommunications.”

The KakaoTalk chat and pictures released by Yi’s family showed details of how A constantly harassed Yi. After the breakup, A posted pictures that the couple took when they were together as his profile picture on messaging apps and he also posted pictures on social media. In the KakaoTalk chat, on June 1, Yi pleaded to A, “We broke up. Please, take it (picture) down,” but A refused saying, “You may not feel the same, but you are my everything.” When Yi said, “That’s stalking,” A replied, “No, it isn’t.”

Yi’s family said, “Only in July, when Eun-chong died, was the crime of stalking removed from offences unpunishable over objection (if the victim objects, the crime shall not be prosecuted),” and added, “She reported him to the police numerous times, but just now, before the first hearing in September, we heard that this was not retaliatory homicide.” The post ended with an appeal, “Please, at least help Eun-chong’s daughter stay safe and enforce practical solutions so that many victims of stalking and related crimes can be safe.”

Yi wore a smartwatch that the police gave her for nearly a month, but on July 13, four days before her death, she personally returned the watch to the Nonhyeon Police Station in Incheon. Her family claimed, “On June 29, the police visited Yi’s house and told her to return the watch if her routes did not overlap with her stalker’s.” They argued that the police asked Yi to return the watch because of a lack of stock.

On September 10, a police representative said over the phone, “Yi first called the police and expressed her intention to return the watch saying she didn’t think her stalker was going to hurt her since there had been no contact from him until then.” He further explained, “We checked the inventory of smartwatches at the time she returned the watch to the Nonhyeon Police Station in Incheon and did not find any reason to mention a lack of stock.” As for the police visiting Yi’s house, he explained, “We couldn’t contact Yi, so the officer in charge of the safety of crime victims made the call to personally check her safety,” and added, “He wasn’t able to meet Yi, since only her mother was at home, but around 10 p.m. that night, he received a call from Yi saying she wasn’t able to answer his calls because she had been busy.”