28th October 2026 – (Seoul) A South Korean man is accused of beating his cohabiting girlfriend 514 times over three hours and 20 minutes until she died — after the couple built a fictional country called Tturi-guk whose rules, investigators say, concentrated every power of punishment in his hands alone.
A television investigation aired on 24th October reconstructed the case. At about 2.24pm on 20th June, in a semi-basement flat in Seoul’s Gangseo-gu, 28-year-old office worker Im was reported unconscious by her boyfriend, Jeon. Paramedics found her already in cardiac arrest.
An autopsy showed 21 fractured ribs and ruptured major organs. Home closed-circuit footage recorded Jeon assaulting Im 514 times across three hours and 20 minutes.
When producers examined Im’s phone, phrases such as “national producer” and “national project” appeared again and again. Those labels pointed to what the pair called a national party project: inventing Tturi-guk, drafting rules and documents to run it. Interviewed about the scheme, Jeon said the rules were meant to cut down on quarrels.
The written communication code went far beyond everyday conflict tips. One line said that the moment a lie was chosen, “you cannot be given any humane treatment”. Another said that once punishment began, no explanation was possible. A third warned that punishment would exceed imagination. Deciding whether a rule had been broken — and what the penalty would be — rested solely with Jeon.
Programme experts argued the framework may have stopped being a couple’s pact and become a tool of control: a breach finding alone could shut down the victim’s chance to explain, while the scale and severity of punishment stayed with the abuser. Jeon has admitted the violence but denied an intent to kill, saying he struck out spontaneously because he could not bear Im lying. His parents instead claimed Im had gaslighted their son. Jeon said he would support her bereaved relatives for life and apologise.
Footage from the day of the killing, experts noted, showed something colder than a sudden flare of temper: Jeon enforcing his own rulebook, mentioning death repeatedly without raising his voice. One analyst said he used a gentle tone, barely shaken emotionally, while beating her to a chilling degree. A forensic specialist said even they found it terrifying — and personally regarded the assault as torture.
