Woo Bum Kon, South Korean Police Who Raged in 4 Villages and Killed 57 People

Just because he was ridiculed for not getting married

Mr. K
4 min readApr 14, 2021

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Woo Bum-Kon. Photo source: FactRepublic.com

Not always the jokes or questions we tell someone can be taken for granted. Sometimes some feel offended and hurt about the jokes or questions we throw.

The proof is in the following case where a man was reckless in committing the heinous murder of 57 people because he was offended by the words of his neighbors who sneered at him for not getting married.

The killings, which took place from April 26 to April 27, 1982, became the worst murder in South Korea's history.

Woo Bum-Kon was a police officer from South Korea who was responsible for the largest mass murder in modern history known as the Uiryeong Massacre until the Norway attacks of July 22, 2011. It was also the deadliest deliberate single loss of life in South Korean history until the Daegu subway fire in 2003.

Woo’s rampage killed 57 people, including himself, and injured 35 others in Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea.

Woo was born on February 24, 1955. Before becoming a police officer, Woo served in the South Korean Marine Center until 1979. In 1980, he was transferred to the South Korean National Police in Pusan and lived in Torongi Village a year later.

The Uiryeong massacre was motivated by an argument Woo with his girlfriend, Chun Mal Soon. The argument took place on April 26, 1982. Woo’s anger peaks after Chun woke him up and hits a fly on his chest.

An angry Woo leaves the house and goes to the police station. He was on duty until 4 p.m. In the evening, Woo returns home. Emotionally awake, he punched and kicked his girlfriend. Also, he destroyed the house furniture. With his emotions running high, he returned to the police station and slipped into the arsenal. Without the other police officers realizing it, he managed to collect M2 weapons, 180 rounds of ammunition, and seven hand grenades.

Around 9:30 p.m., Woo started shooting at pedestrians at the Torongni Village market. There, he also injured his girlfriend, Chun, who was curious about…

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Mr. K

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