Criminal investigations into the stabbing to death of a Korean Christian at the end of November are continuing under a cloak of judicial secrecy, as authorities search for evidence to resolve the controversy over the killer’s motive.
South Korean Jin-Wook Kim, 41, was murdered in a late-night attack on the streets of Diyarbakir (southeast Turkey’s largest city), while walking alone in a small alley near his home in the city’s impoverished Baglar district. Bleeding heavily from two deep stab wounds to his heart and a third in his back, Kim stumbled onto a nearby street, where passers-by alerted the police and called an ambulance.
Despite prompt emergency medical efforts, Kim died that night. He is survived by his wife, then pregnant with their second child, and four-year-old son. Five days later, his widow gave birth to a daughter, whom she named Sevinc (‘Joy’ in Turkish).
Inconsistent
Although authorities said he was attacked by a lone 16-year-old with a history of drug addiction, there are inconsistencies that point to a faith motivation for the murder.
The autopsy concluded that Kim may have been wounded by several people from several directions. He was trained in martial arts and those who know him say he was strong enough to overcome a 16-year-old. Police say they apprehended the suspect, but the boy’s father said he turned his son over to the police.
People had warned last month that the climate of hate ‘Turkey: (en December posters removed’) could result in attacks on Christians, as occurred in Malatya in 2007.
In recent decades, Turkish prosecutors have instituted judicial secrecy orders to protect the confidentiality of any criminal investigations involving violence against Christian foreigners. But during these months-long investigations and the subsequent criminal trials, patently false ‘evidence’ against the Christian victims was regularly leaked to the Turkish media, presenting non-Muslim foreigners as serious threats to Turkey’s national security.
