When fantasy became fatal

In 2021, a 3-year-old girl was found dead inside a home in Gumi, South Korea. She had been dead for so long that her body was described as “mummified.”At first, investigators thought they had a tragic but straightforward case: The girl's mother had abandoned her for months after moving away to remarry.But then came the DNA results. The woman everyone believed to be the child's mother, including the woman herself, was actually her biological sister. How could a woman who raised a child as her daughter turn out to be her sister? And what really happened inside this family?Related article: https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10925915CreditsReporting & writing: Park Jun-heeEditing: Lee Sun-young, Devin WhitingHosts & guests: Devin Whiting, Yoon Min-sikProducer: Park Jun-heeAudio editing: Noh Seong-minArtwork: Hwang Da-eun

Park Wang-yeol left South Korea a failed businessperson and a man accused of fraud.When he was repatriated to South Korea in March 2026, several police officers escorted him through the airport as journalists crowded around him, with his return making headlines across the country.Between those two moments lies a story of triple murder, two prison escapes and an international drug ring that began behind the walls of a Philippine prison.Related article: https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10887548CreditsReporting & writing: Park Jun-heeEditing: Lee Sun-young, Devin WhitingHosts & guests: Devin Whiting, Yoon Min-sikProducer: Park Jun-heeAudio editing: Noh Seong-minArtwork: Hwang Da-eun

In January 1987, the South Korean Embassy in Singapore received a call from the US Embassy about a suspicious asylum seeker, a 28-year-old Korean named Yun Tae-shik.Yun claimed he had narrowly escaped an attempted kidnapping by North Korean agents, alleging that the operation’s point person was none other than his wife.But his story quickly began to unravel. It was soon revealed that Yun had attempted to defect to North Korea before approaching the US Embassy.Related article: https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10859165Credits Reporting & writing: Yoon Min-sikEditing: Lee Sun-young, Devin WhitingHosts & guests: Devin Whiting, Yoon Min-sikProducer: Park Jun-heeAudio editing: Noh Seong-minArtwork: Yu Soo-in

The #MeToo movement pulled back the curtain on toxic work cultures in the entertainment industry — exposing how powerful men exploited women behind the scenes. In the United States, the fall of Harvey Weinstein became a defining moment, leading to convictions and a broader reckoning in Hollywood.But in South Korea, there is a case that never reached that point.Related article: CreditsReporting & writing: Yoon Min-sikEditing: Lee Sun-young, Devin WhitingHosts & guests: Devin Whiting, Yoon Min-sikProducer: Park Jun-heeAudio editing: Noh Seong-minArtwork: Yu Soo-in

"His Excellency doesn't allow his second-in-command to live."In the 2020 movie "The Man Standing Next," the character Park Yong-gak, based on former Korean Central Intelligence Agency chief Kim Hyung-wook, utters the ominous line about then-President Park Chung-hee.Kim, once at the pinnacle of power, went missing after last being seen at a hotel casino in Paris on Oct. 7, 1979.This episode delves into conspiracy theories surrounding the mysterious death of Kim Hyung-wook, an intelligence chief-turned-whistleblower under the Park Chung-hee dictatorship. Related article: https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10723619CreditsReporting & writing: Yoon Min-sikEditing: Lee Sun-young, Devin WhitingHosts & guests: Devin Whiting, Yoon Min-sikProducer: Park Jun-heeAudio editing: Noh Seong-minArtwork: Yu Soo-in

Human fascination with mysticism and the afterlife has endured for millennia -- from protective spells in ancient Mesopotamia to prohibitions against magic in the Hebrew Bible, from necromancy in folklore across cultures to the hysteria of the Salem witch trials, where more than 200 people were accused of witchcraft.Today, few people would still believe it is truly possible to cast a curse or summon the dead. But in 2012 in South Korea, a small group of teenagers and young adults became engrossed in just such ideas.This episode examines how an online forum devoted to summoning spirits crossed the line from dark fascination into deadly action, culminating in the murder of a 20-year-old college student — once one of their own.Related article: https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10702769CreditsReporting & writing: Yoon Min-sikEditing: Lee Sun-young, Devin WhitingHosts & guests: Devin Whiting, Yoon Min-sikProducer: Park Jun-heeAudio editing: Noh Seong-minArtwork: Yu Soo-in

Lee Young-hak was once the darling of South Korea.The public gave him the nickname "Molar Daddy" after the rare disease, known as gigantiform cementoma, that caused disfigurement of his and his daughter's mouths.But a horrifying truth was uncovered a decade later. In 2017, the nation was stunned by the news that the once-beloved Molar Daddy was facing murder and sexual assault charges.This episode will delve into how the father and daughter turned out to be accomplices in a heinous crime, and how many people were blinded by his tearjerker of a life story that concealed his dark side.Related article: CreditsReporting & writing: Yoon Min-sikEditing: Lee Sun-young, Devin WhitingHosts & guests: Devin Whiting, Yoon Min-sikProducer: Park Jun-heeAudio editing: Noh Seong-minArtwork: Yu Soo-in

Countless murders have occurred in this world.Some driven by rage, others by revenge or by money.But what if someone kills without hatred, without greed, claiming instead that they did it out of love? What if the victims were not strangers, but one’s own parents, wife and children?This episode is about a man who killed his entire family, believing he was protecting them from future hardship.Related article: https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10678062CreditsReporting & writing: Shin Ji-hyeEditing: Lee Sun-young, Devin WhitingHosts & guests: Devin Whiting, Yoon Min-sikProducer: Park Jun-heeAudio editing: Noh Seong-minArtwork: Yu Soo-in

In May 2000, in South Korea, a young man from what appeared to be an ordinary, middle-class family murdered both of his parents. He was 23, enrolled at one of the country’s top universities, and had never shown signs of violence.As investigators dug deeper, the case shifted from a question of how the crime happened to why. What emerged was a childhood shaped by crushing expectations, constant comparison, and years of physical and emotional abuse.This episode examines the Lee Eun-seok case, the story of a son who was never enough, and the moment he reached his breaking point.Related article: https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10662969CreditsReporting & writing: Yoon Min-sikEditing: Lee Sun-young, Devin WhitingHosts & guests: Devin Whiting, Yoon Min-sikProducer: Song Seung-hyunAudio editing: Noh Seong-minArtwork: Yu Soo-in

For nearly 20 years, one detail defined two notorious murder cases in Seoul’s Sinjeong-dong — a sticker of a cute bunny character called Mashimaro.It shaped public memory, media narratives and online speculation.But police now say it was the wrong clue.This episode reexamines what really happened in Sinjeong-dong in 2005, and how public attention blurred unrelated crimes, a truth only uncovered after the real killer was finally identified in November 2025.Related article: https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10649282CreditsReporting & writing: Song Seung-hyunEditing: Lee Sun-young, Devin WhitingHosts & guests: Devin Whiting, Yoon Min-sikProducer: Song Seung-hyunAudio editing: Noh Seong-minArtwork: Yu Soo-in