Two people were convicted of killing him. Six months later, he walked through his mother's front door.
On April 29, 1930, in the village of Yeongcheon in Japanese-occupied Korea, a woman gathering greens in the nearby hills discovered the body of a teenage boy, beaten so severely his face was unrecognizable. What followed became one of colonial Korea's strangest documented criminal cases.
A Body With No Name
Japanese colonial police who investigated the scene found a towel and an A-frame carrier near the body. An autopsy determined the cause of death was strangulation, likely with the towel. Crime, let alone murder, was rare in the small farming community, and investigators expected identifying the victim would be straightforward.
For two days, police canvassed the village asking who might be missing. Only one name came up: Park Chang-soo, a teenage laborer who worked at a local inn and had last been seen on April 26, when witnesses reported the innkeeper, Ko Ok-dan, and another worker, Cho Ki-jun, beating him with a lever.
Arrest and Confession
Police quickly arrested both Ko and Cho. Ko denied any involvement. After two days of interrogation, Cho confessed to the murder, and Ko eventually admitted to it as well, though she later recanted at trial.
According to the confession, Ko was the second wife of a wealthy man from a nearby village, kept apart from his household and given money to run the inn instead. When a local man reportedly asked her to run away with him, she didn't refuse outright, instead asking for time to think it over. Park was said to have told Ko's husband about the exchange, and the husband confronted her about it. Angered, Ko and Cho allegedly took Park to the mountains, beat him, and strangled him with the towel.
Trial and Sentencing
A judge sentenced Cho to 10 years in prison and Ko to 15, with Cho reportedly receiving a lighter sentence for showing remorse. Investigators had already located Park's mother, who identified the body as her son, though she noted the clothing looked unfamiliar to her — a detail that, at the time, wasn't treated as significant. The body and clothing were released to the family, and the case was considered closed.
The Return
On October 18, 1930, nearly six months later, Park Chang-soo walked up to his mother's home. She initially believed she was seeing his ghost. He explained that he had lost consciousness during the beating on the mountain but hadn't died — he woke up alone, badly hurt, and afraid to return to the village where his attackers still lived. He traveled instead to Seoul, working various jobs over the following months, unaware that he had officially been declared murdered and that two people had been convicted and imprisoned for his death.
The Fallout
Park's return threw the case into chaos. Prosecutors blamed police for coercing false confessions; police blamed Park's mother for misidentifying the body. The presiding judge, Hasebe, acknowledged the verdict had been wrong but said his hands were tied without prosecutors formally requesting a retrial.
Ko and Cho were eventually granted a retrial and both were acquitted, testifying that their original confessions had come under coercive, abusive interrogation. They later sought compensation for their wrongful convictions, but no legal framework existed under the Japanese colonial penal code at the time to provide it, and their petitions were denied.
A Body Never Identified
The identity of the actual body found in Yeongcheon has never been established. Investigators at the time couldn't determine whether it belonged to an unrelated victim or someone connected to Ko and Cho in some other way, and because it had already been buried in an unmarked grave before the mistake came to light, it's now considered permanently lost to identification. Some later commentary has speculated Park's mother may have felt pressured to confirm the body's identity given the power colonial authorities held over villagers at the time, though this remains speculation rather than documented fact.
Frequently Asked Questions
Was Park Chang-soo actually killed?
No. He survived the beating, lost consciousness, and later returned home alive, six months after two people had been convicted of his murder.
Who was the person actually found dead in Yeongcheon?
Unknown. The body was never identified, and because it was buried before the mistake was discovered, it's considered permanently unidentifiable today.
What happened to Ko Ok-dan and Cho Ki-jun?
Both were granted a retrial after Park's return and were acquitted, having argued their original confessions were coerced. Neither received compensation for their wrongful imprisonment.