Murder of Yun Geum-i

The murder of Yun Geum-i was a murder case on October 28, 1992, at a camp town in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi Province Gyeonggi, South Korea. Bar employee Yun Geum-i, then 26 years old, was sexually assaulted and murdered by private Kenneth Markle (Kenneth Lee Markle III), a 20-year-old member of the USFK 2nd Division. This case raised the issue of the U.S. Forces in South Korea as a social problem, and became an opportunity to start an earnest revision movement to U.S.–South Korea Status of Forces Agreement. Private Markle was sentenced to life in prison, which was later reduced 15 years after Geum-i's family received 71 million won (US$72,000) in compensation from the U.S. government in August 1993 (life terms and death sentences in South Korea are also generally reserved for people who have committed multiple murders).

Yun Geum-i
Murder of Yun Geum-i
Hangul
윤금이
Hanja
尹今伊
Revised RomanizationYun Geum-i
McCune–ReischauerYun Kŭmi
IPA[jun kɯm.i]

Markle III was imprisoned in Cheonan prison on May 17, 1994. In 1995, he was fined 2 million won (US$2,000) for causing a disturbance in prison. He was released on parole on August 14, 2006, and deported to the United States. He'd made seven previous applications for parole, but all of them had been rejected. Markle died in February 2023.[1]

Kenneth Lee Markle III .
Born(1972-05-21)May 21, 1972
Morgantown, West Virginia, U.S.
DiedFebruary 14, 2023 (aged 50)
Keyser, West Virginia, U.S.
Criminal statusReleased
Conviction(s)Murder
Criminal penaltyLife imprisonment; commuted to 15 years imprisonment
Details
VictimsYun Geum-i, 26
DateOctober 28, 1992
CountrySouth Korea

Murder and aftermath

In 1992, Yun Geum-i, a camptown sex worker in Dongducheon, was brutally killed by U.S. servicemen.[2][3][4] Yun was found dead with a bottle stuffed into her vagina and an umbrella into her anus.[5] In August 1993, the U.S. government compensated the victim's family with about US$72,000.[6] However, the murder of a prostitute did not itself spark a national debate about the prerogatives of the U.S. forces; on the other hand, the 1995 rape of a twelve-year-old Okinawan schoolgirl by three American servicemen (one U.S. Navy Seaman, two U.S. Marines) elicited much public outrage and brought wider attention to military-related violence against women.[4]

See also

References
  1. "Kenneth Lee Markle Obituary". www.tributearchive.com. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  2. Cho, Grace M. (2008). Haunting the Korean Diaspora: Shame, Secrecy, and the Forgotten War. University of Minnesota Press. p. 115. ISBN 978-0816652747. In October 1992, a camptown sex worker named Yun Geum-I was brutally murdered by one of her clients during a dispute.
  3. Moon, Gwang-lip (2011-09-30). "After soldier held for rape, U.S. vows assistance". JoongAng Ilbo. Archived from the original on 2013-06-19. Retrieved 2013-04-12.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. Moon, Katharine. "Military Prostitution and the U.S. Military in Asia". The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. Retrieved 2013-05-02.
  5. McHugh, Kathleen (2005). South Korean Golden Age Melodrama: Gender, Genre, And National Cinema. Wayne State University Press. p. 133. ISBN 978-0-8143-3253-5.
  6. "U.S. soldier free after brutal 1992 murder". The Hankyoreh. 2006-10-28. Retrieved 2013-04-15.
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