A first-trial ruling said the state must pay about 77 million won in damages to the family of the late Hong Seong-rok, who was framed as the culprit in the Hwaseong serial murders and subjected to unlawful detention and coercive interrogation. The court acknowledged state responsibility, but because it accepted only part of the roughly 470 million won the family sought, the family said it would appeal.
The Seoul Central District Court Civil Division 906 single-judge panel (Presiding Judge An Dong-cheol, Director General) on the 15th ordered the state to pay each of Hong's two children about 38 million won in a damages suit they filed against the state. Earlier, in March, the court recommended a settlement that the state pay each family member about 180 million won, but after the state objected, a formal ruling was issued.
Hong was identified as a suspect in the Hwaseong serial murders and questioned by police in May 1987. According to the family, Hong was interrogated for about seven days without an arrest warrant and in isolation from the outside world, and during that time endured prolonged questioning, assaults, and sleep deprivation. The family says police extracted false confessions from Hong to the 3rd, 5th, and 6th Hwaseong murders and even fabricated some evidence.
Police then announced to the media that they had secured Hong's confession. At the time, media reports revealed Hong's face and personal details and even declared his motive and mental state. Hong was released for lack of definitive physical evidence, but as police canvassing continued, he reportedly quit his job and found it difficult to live a normal social life.
Hong's children also said they were harmed during the investigation. The children, then ages 10 and 7, were pressured to testify during police questioning and were asked leading questions about their father's alleged crimes, according to reports. After the case, Hong lived a socially isolated life and died in March 2002. In 2019, Lee Chun-jae was confirmed as the real culprit, but Hong did not have his honor restored in his lifetime.
Attorney Park Jun-young, the family's representative, said right after the ruling, "We expected the state to show responsibility for the harm to the person who lived under a stigma without receiving an apology from anyone and to that person's family, but the ruling is quite far from those expectations." Park added, "It pains me to think that the suffering of a life lived under a stigma is treated with such indifference," and said, "It is a disappointing ruling, but I hope this decision lets it be known that those unfairly investigated in connection with the Hwaseong serial murders have a way to assert their rights."
Suits for government compensation by victims who were unfairly investigated or punished in connection with the Lee Chun-jae serial murders are continuing. Yoon Seong-yeo and his family, who were framed as the culprit in the eighth case and served about 20 years, won a total of 2.17 billion won in government compensation in 2022. Because the Ministry of Justice did not appeal, the first-trial award was finalized. In the case of the late Yoon Dong-il, who was framed as the culprit in the ninth case, served time, and later died, a retrial in Oct. last year returned a not-guilty verdict, and the government compensation suit filed by the family is ongoing.