E134 - A Bitter End: Kim Sunja

**Jessica** (0:00)
This is Jessica, and you're listening to The Asian Madness Podcast.
Welcome back, everyone, to another episode from The Asian Madness Podcast. I hope everyone's doing great, living their best life, and staying healthy. I would like to thank you all because my little podcast turned 8 years old not too long ago. Without you, I would not be here, so sincerely, thank you very much. With that said, let's move on to today's episode. I can't remember how I came across today's case, probably during one of my manic Google searches. But anyway, serial killers, you've definitely heard me mention a few here and there. Charles Sabraj was one for sure, and he showed signs. We also have the guy from episode 85, Yi Junjie, who murdered multiple women. Also, the Twitter killer from Japan, Shiraishi Takahiro, who was executed in June of 2025 Many of these people showed signs of being mentally unwell, of having a troubled life. But what about those that kind of don't really fit the bill? Those that seem to be so normal, you wouldn't even bat an eye. Those that seem completely harmless. Who would come to mind if you had to think of an unlikely serial killer? In this episode, it's a middle-aged woman. She was just another housewife, quiet, living an ordinary life in South Korea. But secretly, Kim Sunja was unraveling, drowning in debt. And what happened next would horrify the country, not just because she's a killer, but because she's a woman and completely harmless, at least on the surface. Driven by desperation and the lure of quick wealth, Kim Sunja began to kill. And sadly, her victims were all people she knew, people who trusted her. By the time it was over, she wasn't just another woman trying to survive the system. She was one of South Korea's most notorious serial killers. Her story isn't just about murder. It's about a society that missed the signs and stayed stubborn with its values until it was a little too late. Let's begin. So I came across some conflicting sources on her origin story, but it is presumed that she was born in December of 1939, so during the time World War II was raging on and when Japan was invading Asia, Korea included. While she was born in Korea, it was technically an administrative region under Japanese rule at the time. Not much is really known about her life prior to marriage and her murders, partly because she was an ordinary citizen, and also record-keeping wasn't exactly detailed, not like how it is today. But she was married, she had three kids, and her life looked stable. Her husband worked as a painter, nothing crazy, he was providing just enough for the family to get by. Life wasn't luxurious, but it was safe. It was consistent. No surprises.
But the reality was that Kim Sunja had developed a dangerous addiction, gambling. Addictions of any kind can be very expensive and even dangerous to your health. Drugs and alcohol most people are aware of, but sometimes there are those that are not so obvious. According to the Mayo Clinic, gambling can stimulate the brain's reward system, much like drugs or alcohol can, leading to addiction. For this desperate housewife, local cabarets and bedding parlors became her second home. Any free time she had was spent there. And before long, debts mounted. Sure, gambling can technically make someone rich, but the odds of someone stopping after a win is not very high. The constant losses thus pushed her further into financial ruin and deeper into desperation. Despite her financial irresponsibility, Kim wasn't totally reckless. In another way, she was also very calculated.
Psychologists later would describe her as having a cold, detached personality, capable of manipulation and long-term planning. She could lie without blinking, smile while deceiving, hide her darkness behind a housewife's mask. What made her so dangerous wasn't just what she did, it was how easily she blended in.
According to criminal psychologists, most serial killers, especially women, don't follow this kind of profile. Many men kill for power, for revenge or are driven by sexual violence. But Kim's motive was financial gain. We've heard of Black widows who take their husband's life and insurance policies, and in my prior episode on Afghanistan, we met a woman named Shirin Ghul who served people poison tea in order to take their belongings and their money. Financial gain actually seems to be the most common reason women kill. Kim's descent into violence was an instant. It wasn't random either. She started with smaller acts, such as lying, manipulating and committing fraud. When it became unmanageable, and when she became more desperate, she resorted to murder, and she used poison, a method often preferred by killers who want to avoid mess or suspicion, which also happens to be the most preferred method for women killers. Interestingly, Kim kind of fell into the woman killer cliché, but this was back in the 80s, and it's hard to say how much people actually knew about women who killed back then. But you don't really just go to the supermarket and ask for a liter of cyanide. How did she get her hands on cyanide? Well, she told her nephew she needed cyanide for pest control, and that's all it took. The first recorded victim came on October 31st, 1986 That day, she approached a 49-year-old neighbor, Kim Gyehwan, a woman she knew well from the neighborhood. The two ladies were supposedly hanging out at a bathhouse, which is a very common place to visit in Korea. She asked her friend to accompany her to the bathroom, claiming she needed help. Once alone, Kim handed Gyehwan a drink. Laced with cyanide, she allegedly told her friend that this was a drink to boost her health. If a friend gave you something, would you drink it? Probably, assuming you're not allergic to the ingredients. Moments later, Gyehwan collapsed. She fell down the stairs, gasping for breath, body twisting from violent cramps. Paramedics rushed her to a nearby hospital, but she died soon after. Her jewelry, a necklace and a ring, had vanished. No witnesses, and nothing pointing to murder. And of course, no direct or obvious link to Kim. You might be wondering, hello, autopsies? Well, yes, but here's where the cultural aspect kind of kicks in. Death can be a taboo subject in many cultures, such as Korean culture in this case. Up until around that time, autopsies were viewed as a taboo thing. This might be linked to Korea's Confucian society and ideals, where doing anything to the human body, or in this case, cutting open the body is seen as disrespectful and degrading. While that view has obviously changed, death and autopsies were still kind of taboo in the 1980s, and only performed if absolutely necessary. This is my understanding, at least. So with all that said, Kim Gyehwan's case went cold. By the spring of 1987, Kim Sunja had already learned how to kill quietly. No screaming, no struggle, no blood. Just a smile and a shared drink. Then bam, death. Her next target was another woman she actually knew well, and they had very similar names. 50-year-old Jeon Sunja, a neighbor and creditor from the same Sindandong neighborhood. On April 4, 1987, Kim approached her with a plan. She said she needed to collect some money in Yeongdeungpo and asked if Jeon would ride the bus with her. Kim then asked her friend if she could lend her 7 million Korean won. Might sound like a crazy amount, but in US dollars, that's a little over 5,000. Which, if I think about it, I guess is still quite a bit of money, especially back in the 80s. Her friend did not think twice, simply agreed and happily gave her the money. Kim, of course, promised her in her sincere ways that she will 100% pay her back as soon as they arrive at their destination. The two then went on their way and boarded a bus. On the bus, the two sat next to each other, and Kim used her old trick and offered her friend a quote-unquote medicinal drink for her health. If Jun was willing to lend her that much money, she definitely had no qualms with taking a drink from her friend. So she did. Then she began to cough. She said her drink tasted strange. Her breathing changed. She slumped forward in her seat. Fellow passengers rushed her to the hospital, but of course, it was too late. Jun died shortly after arriving. Same story as our first victim. No autopsy, no discovery, no murder intention, no arrest. Kim Sunja got away with it again. Moving on to the third victim. It was February 10, 1988 This time, the victim was a 46-year-old Kim Sunja. Confusing, I know. They pretty much have the same exact name. She basically targeted a woman with the same exact name as herself. To make it a bit easier to differentiate the two, I'm going to refer them as Killer Kim and Victim Kim. Similarly to the prior victim, Killer Kim owed this friend money, about 1.2 million won, to be exact. Killer Kim suggested the two go to this coffee shop together. She claimed someone who owed her money was meeting her there to repay a loan, and then she would pass the money to Victim Kim and pay her back. They waited for hours, but no one came, so they decided to leave. On the way home inside a taxi, Killer Kim offered Victim Kim a sip of yulmucha. Which is a grain-based Korean drink. Her stomach turned and soon she began to vomit. Killer Kim then calmly told her she would feel better if she had more of the drink, but added that they should get out of the cab first. Clearly she wanted to cover her tracks, because there is no way the cab driver did not hear their conversation. For some reason though, Victim Kim became suspicious of Killer Kim, and she refused to leave. Seeing this, Killer Kim had to make some last changes to her plans. So to win her trust, Killer Kim managed to keep her friend alive, actually paid her back the money that she owed her, and even visited Victim Kim to check in on her health. But this was all just part of the act to come off innocent. See, not everyone in her presence ends up dead. Barely a month later, on March 27, 1988, Kim crossed another line. She killed her own father. She was traveling with 73-year-old Kim Jongchun returning from a family visit. They boarded an intercity bus together, and as per her MO, Kim offered him a drink, and sure enough, he collapsed right after. Doctors at a nearby hospital tried to revive him, but the Cyanide had already done its job. Since it was her family member, Kim demanded that the hospital release her father's body immediately, probably claiming religious or cultural reasons, and had him cremated as soon as possible. Possibly she stood to gain some inheritance, which she could then use to gamble some more. Probably feeling a bit braver and more confident at this point, Kim started targeting more members of her family. Because then, her sister came next.