SBS, a leader in current affairs and educational programming, will premiere the four-part crime documentary "The Time of Monsters" on Nov. 1 (Sat). The production team of That That Wants to Know met the worst serial killers, and will depict their origins and evolution with overwhelming storytelling and cinematography.
From the CP to the Head of Team, directing producers and writers, veterans whose combined episode count for That That Wants to Know reaches 500 joined forces for The Time of Monsters. Unlike That That Wants to Know, which tracks mysteries of unsolved cases or ongoing cases, The Time of Monsters focuses on the vast narrative from the upbringing and psychology of criminals who defined an era to their evolution into serial killers. Based on the passage of time, the program moves through the various locations that became crime scenes to probe whether there were turning points that could have stopped the completed monsters' crimes and whether contemporary Korea can prevent the birth of another monster.
- The birth and evolution of the worst monster Lee Chun-jae
The four-part The Time of Monsters covers Lee Chun-jae, Korea's worst serial killer, in parts 1 and 2. Lee Chun-jae committed heinous acts, including 15 murders of women and approximately 30 rapes in areas such as Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. He confessed to crimes 33 years after his first offense in 1986, but his childhood and how his perverse sexual desires and aggression developed remain shrouded in mystery. He recalls that, like a moth to a flame, he wandered until he encountered a victim and an accidental "incident" occurred, and he claims he never thought about his motives for the crimes.
Beginning with the fifth episode broadcast of That That Wants to Know in Apr. 1992, the Hwaseong serial murders were covered six times. Previously unreleased footage and rare photos from the SBS cabinet and Lee Chun-jae's actual voice will be revealed for the first time in The Time of Monsters. Classmates, neighbors, military and workplace colleagues, and victims who directly suffered crimes at Lee Chun-jae's hands tell chilling stories about their encounters with him.
- Kidnapping, murder, disappearance: murder enterprise CEO Choi Se-yong
Parts 3 and 4 of The Time of Monsters delve into Choi Se-yong, the CEO of a murder enterprise. Choi Se-yong was the mastermind behind the kidnapping and murder of Filipino tourists, which That That Wants to Know broadcast over five episodes. Beginning with art theft from Seoboksa in Japan, he and acquaintances Kim Jong-seok and Kim Seong-gon, whom he met in prison, carried out the killing of a female exchange office employee in Anyang and the kidnapping and murder of Koreans in the Philippines. It is estimated Choi Se-yong's group kidnapped at least 19 people and killed seven, and four victims remain missing because their bodies have not been found.
What is the terrifying true nature of Choi Se-yong as recounted directly by survivors of kidnappings? How did Choi Se-yong, once a juvenile offender who entered and left prison eight times, gather accomplices and evolve into a monster known as the "CEO of a murder enterprise" crossing borders? The Time of Monsters will for the first time reveal rare footage of Choi Se-yong and accomplice Kim Seong-gon when they were imprisoned in Thailand and the Philippines, as well as previously unknown details of Choi Se-yong's distinctive criminal acts. It will also disclose the shocking contents of handwritten petitions Choi Se-yong wrote during a six-year trial process and the elegant handwritten letters he sent to the production team.
- Monsters are not made in an instant
Presented like a period drama, the documentary SBS The Time of Monsters conveys the monsters' growth and the triggers behind them through solid reporting and vivid testimony. Through persistent pursuit, dramatic arrests and confessions, it will reveal the abyss of evil with behind-the-scenes stories that have never been known until now.
The Time of Monsters: the two-part Lee Chun-jae serial murders will air Nov. 1 (Sat) and Nov. 2 (Sun) at 11:10 p.m., and the two-part murder enterprise CEO Choi Se-yong will air Nov. 8 (Sat) and Nov. 9 (Sun) at 11:10 p.m. <
[Photo] SBS
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