Episode 61: Kang Ki-hun Suicide Note Forgery Case (강기훈 유서대필 조작 사건)
Dark Korea — Korean True Crime & MysteriesShow Notes
On the morning of the 8th of May, 1991, a young activist climbed to the roof of a university building in Seoul, set himself on fire, and jumped. He left two handwritten pages behind on the concrete.
Within days, the prosecution announced that the pages were a forgery. That the dead man hadn't written his own last words. That a friend of his had written them for him — and had talked him into dying to make a point.
They put that friend in prison for three years. They used a handwriting report from the state forensic laboratory. The man who wrote that report was, at almost exactly that moment, under criminal investigation himself for selling forged handwriting opinions.
It took twenty-four years to undo. And thirty-five years later, in May 2026, a Korean court finally wrote the last line of it — and still would not say the word the accused man had waited his whole life to hear.
Kang Ki-hun Suicide Note Forgery Case (강기훈 유서대필 조작 사건) · 1991-05-08 · Sogang University, Mapo-gu, Seoul; Seoul District Prosecutors' Office; Myeongdong Cathedral
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