Chat logs from high school years reveal Jang Yun-gi said he wanted to kidnap teenage girls for sex crimes, court hears

Social media chat logs showing that Jang Yun-gi, 23, told acquaintances during high school that he wanted to kidnap teenage girls by car and commit sex crimes against them were presented as evidence in court Monday, suggesting he harbored distorted sexual attitudes from an early age.

The 13th Criminal Division of the Gwangju District Court, presided over by Chief Judge Lee Jeong-ho, held the third hearing Monday in the case against Jang, who is detained and indicted on charges including murder in the course of rape under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Violence Crimes.

The session proceeded with a written examination of additional evidence submitted by prosecutors, followed by witness questioning.

Jang's court-appointed defense attorney said the defense accepted all of the prosecution's evidence but did not agree with the intent behind its submission.

The evidence includes social media chat logs Jang exchanged separately with a high school classmate and a colleague from his time as a social service worker.

The logs reportedly contain messages in which Jang told acquaintances during his high school years that he wanted to kidnap teenage girls by car and commit sex crimes against them.

Prosecutors also submitted additional evidence Monday, including a National Forensic Service appraisal report on a sex doll, footage from a forensic examination of Jang's vehicle, and a crime scene investigation report. They also withdrew their earlier request to call Jang's high school classmate and social service colleague as witnesses, instead submitting telephone statement investigation reports and recorded call files as substitute evidence.

Prosecutors submitted the chat logs as additional evidence to prove that the motive behind the killing was kidnapping and sexual assault.

Jang's defense attorney said school records submitted in evidence showed the defendant had been "relatively passive and reserved during his school years," and argued that a review of the chat exchanges showed Jang was not the one who initiated the crude remarks but rather responded to the other party.

The attorney added, "We do not deny the conversations themselves, but we deny the intent the prosecution attributes to them."

The court then closed the remainder of the session — including the evidence examination and witness questioning — to the public, citing the graphic nature of the content and the need to protect the victim's privacy.

Witnesses who appeared Monday included the parents of Lee Chae-won, 16, a second-year high school student killed by Jang, and a 17-year-old male passerby, also a second-year high school student, who was seriously injured when Jang attacked him with a weapon after he rushed to Lee's aid.

If witness questioning and other procedures are completed at this hearing, the fourth session, scheduled for next month, is expected to include a defendant examination of Jang.

Jang was detained and indicted on charges including murder in the course of rape and attempted murder after he allegedly killed Lee at around 12:10 a.m. on May 5 on a secluded pedestrian path in Wolgye-dong, Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju, for the purpose of committing a sex crime, and then attacked with a weapon a male student who ran to the scene after hearing screams.

The indictment also includes charges that two days before the killing, Jang sexually assaulted a 26-year-old Vietnamese woman who had been a co-worker at a part-time job, and that during his time as a social service worker he secretly filmed the bodies of teenage girls, among other sex crimes.