Confession from a Son Who Killed His Mother

Tragic story of one Korean family

안녕, it’s Ari, your talkative Korean friend and weekend reminder. 🎉 Today’s newsletter is about a noodle recipe and a tragic story of one Korean family. Let’s dive in!

Soy Sauce Bibim Noodles

Soy sauce bibim noodles (우리의 식탁)

As the temperature hit 35°C (95°F) in Seoul, 🥵 summer has officially arrived. There is a dish that Koreans often enjoy during the summer called soy sauce bibim noodles. I’ve already made this dish multiple times this month, but unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures. 🫠 It’s super quick and easy to prepare, yet tastes so delicious. I found a viral recipe for it on YouTube, which you can read below. As you can see from the recipe, it can be a great vegetarian dish as long as you don’t include egg yolk. Even without egg yolk, it still tastes great. I prefer the egg yolk-free version. But don’t forget to add gim (seaweed flakes). Enjoy the summer noodles and have a cool weekend!

For 1 serving,

1. (Sauce) Mix 4 tablespoons of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 2 tablespoons of sesame oil, 0.5 tablespoon of minced garlic (optional), and 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds until the sugar dissolves.

2. Cook the somyeon noodles (any thin noodles are fine) in boiling water. When it starts to boil, pour cold water 2-3 times to make the noodles chewy. Boil for 4-5 minutes.

3. Rinse the noodles in cold water, drain, and mix with 2-3 spoons of the sauce.

4. For extra flavor, you can top it with egg yolk or seaweed flakes according to your preference.

Confession from a Son Who Killed His Mother

In 2011, a high school student was arrested for killing his mother while she was sleeping at her room. The case became infamous not just because it was a rare instance of parricide committed by a teenager, but also because he was arrested after living with his mother's dead body for 8 months. In court, he was sentenced to only 3 years in jail, which is below the minimum sentence for parricide, typically set at 7 years. Now a 31-year-old father of two, the killer recently appeared on television (with his face blurred) to talk about what happened, why he did it, and how he feels about his mother. His story sheds light not just on aspects of Korean culture, such as heavy educational stress on students, but also on universal problems like how bad marriages can affect children. The following are his words, translated, and summarized and modified to exclude violent parts and to include background information.

The house where a high school student was found and arrested after living with his mother’s body for 8 months.

“I know there will be people who criticize me. I am also worried about whether my story will be conveyed properly. That day, I was really scared. The next thought was that I didn't want to die. So I took a knife from the kitchen and went to my mother's bedroom where she was sleeping.

From a young age, my mother always pushed me to be the best. When I first participated in an English competition in elementary school, I received an encouragement award. I still remember the walk to the awards ceremony. Kids my age were gathered and walking up a hill. As we walked, my mother said, "Those kids walking over there all seem to have won gold prizes." I made up my mind to win a gold prize next time to make my mother happy. And in the next semester, I actually won the gold prize.

In my first exam in middle school, I ranked second in the entire school. I was very happy and excitedly shared the news with my mother. However, I was scolded and beaten. She asked, "Are you happy with being second? You should aim to be first. How can you be satisfied with being second?" Although I felt it was unfair, I thought maybe she was right. So, in the next exam, I ranked first. Again, I went to her happily, but I was scolded again. She said, "Do you know how many schools there are in the country? You should aim to be first in the nation. There are 5,000 middle schools nationwide. Are you satisfied with being 5,000th?"

To me, my mother was a perfectionist and a tough person. She was undoubtedly an extraordinary person. It seemed like it was my mother who really loved studying. She was always the top student in her school. But my grandfather had no intention of educating his daughter because she was a girl. My mother worked during the day, studied hard at night to finally get into her dream university. After graduating, she went to Japan to continue her studies, where she met my father. They fell in love, got married, and my mother gave up her beloved studies.

The married life she chose after giving up her dreams wasn't smooth. The husband she thought she knew turned out to be different. They fought often, and when they did, the fights would last for hours. Sometimes, my mother would collapse from the stress of the arguments, and then my father would leave the house. Sometimes, he wouldn't come back for a month. When my father left us, her abuse intensified. She hit me with a 7-iron golf club, and I had special pants to wear for being beaten. They were always soaked with blood.

As my grades dropped, I started altering my report cards. I changed my national mock exam rank from 2700th to 1200th. My mother wasn't satisfied, so I changed it to 250th. No matter how I changed it, she was never satisfied. When I reached my senior year, things were at their worst. That spring, my father officially filed for divorce. To my mother, it must have felt like the end. She became more irritable and introduced new punishments. She wouldn't let me eat because eating made me sleepy, and as a senior, she said I needed to be mentally tough. After two days, hunger was bearable, but the lack of sleep was unbearable. Whenever I dozed off, my mother would wake me with her lectures and the 7-iron golf club.

That night, after she had hit me throughout the night and I hadn't eaten for two days, she went to bed in her room. I was sitting at my desk in the living room, feeling dazed. My eyes fell on a desk calendar. Seeing it made my heart sink, not from the usual fear of being hit, but with a feeling that the world was ending. I saw a parent-teacher meeting marked. I knew I couldn't cover up my forged grades during the meeting, and my mother would find out everything. I thought she would beat me to death.

I was terrified and didn't want to die. I got up, went to the kitchen, grabbed a knife, and opened the door to my mother's bedroom. She was asleep. I went in, and that was the end.

What I truly regret is … (I wish I could tell) my mother that she was an amazing person, a precious person, and someone who deserved all the love in the world, even without me (the top student son). If I could go back, I would tell her that.”

He sobbed when he talked about the last part. His interview went viral after airing, receiving mixed reactions. Most people reacted with sympathy, calling it a sad tragedy, while some criticized him, saying a killer is a killer.

If there is anyone out there enduring the same hardships he faced when he was eighteen, he sincerely hopes they don't make the same choices he did or have the same regrets. He said he stood in front of the camera to say this.

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