Makgapa incident

Overview

The Makgapa incident was a crime in which the criminal gang 'Makgapa', formed in Seoul in September 1996, kidnapped a woman in her 40s in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on October 5 of the same year, robbed her of money and valuables, and killed her in a salt-field area in Songsan-myeon, Hwaseong-gun, Gyeonggi-do. The gang then committed gas station robberies, and on October 28 it was caught at a checkpoint near Namhansanseong in Gwangju, Gyeonggi. All nine members of the gang were arrested. The gang's leader, Choi Jeong-su, had his death sentence finalized by the Supreme Court on December 12, 1997. Because no execution was carried out after December 30, 1997, he remains a death row inmate whose sentence has not been executed.

The name of the gang is said to derive from the phrase 'a life that goes to extremes' (막가는 인생). Because it directly imitated the Jiljonpa Incident from two years earlier, it strongly impressed upon Korean society the problems of imitation crime and crime committed by teenagers and young adults.

Background

According to reports, in mid-September 1996 Choi Jeong-su (then 20 or 21 years old) and two young men of similar age met in Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, and formed the gang. Choi became the leader, and there were a deputy leader and an enforcer. Later, people they met at an entertainment establishment near Moran Market in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, joined, bringing the membership to nine. Most members had dropped out of school or had only recently graduated, and they were in their late teens to early twenties. Many had records for theft or assault. The youngest member was 17.

In accordance with the human rights reporting guidelines, this article does not give the names of members other than Choi Jeong-su, whose name was widely reported because he was sentenced to death as leader. Some members were minors at the time of the crimes.

It is reported that Choi became interested in forming a criminal organization after watching an organized crime film released in 1996, and that he stated he admired the Jijonpa gang.

Timeline

• Early morning of October 5, 1996: The members kidnapped a woman in her 40s who ran a karaoke bar in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. The victim was the person responsible for supporting her family, and reports stated that she was far from the 'wealthy people' the perpetrators had claimed to target.
• The perpetrators withdrew about 9 million won from a bank in Suwon using the victim's card and seized her vehicle. The victim was killed near a salt storehouse in a salt-field area in Gojeong-ri, Songsan-myeon, Hwaseong-gun, Gyeonggi-do.
• Night of October 12: The victim's family reported her missing to the police.
• The perpetrators afterward committed three gas station robberies in Gwangju in Gyeonggi, Yangjae-dong in Seoul, and Bundang in Seongnam.