Kwang Kyung Yoo: Sydney taekwondo instructor's shocking lies revealed after he pleads guilty to triple murder

West Australian

7 days ago

WARNING: Confronting content
A taekwondo instructor who confessed to a shocking triple murder in western Sydney had an obsession with luxury items and told grandiose lies in the lead-up to the killing of a couple and a seven-year-old boy, according to court documents.
Kwang Kyung Yoo, 51, on Thursday pleaded guilty to murdering Min Cho, 41, and a seven-year-old child at his North Parramatta taekwondo studio as well as Ms Cho's husband, Steven Cho, 39, at his Baulkham Hills home on February 19 last year.
A statement of agreed facts tendered to the Parramatta Local Court do not state Yoo's motivation for the horrific murders; however, they do reveal that in the lead-up, he lied to his wife that he was being given a BMW as a work car and instead took Ms Cho's BMW X5 after killing her.
He was also obsessed with wealth and had told lies about his academic credentials and having competed at the Olympics.
Yoo ran the Lion's Taekwondo and Martial Arts Academy at North Parramatta and was known to his students as 'Master Lion'.
According to court documents, in January last year, he lied to his wife when he told her that a primary school, where he had a part-time job, was giving him a BMW as a work car.
In the 11 days leading up to the horrific murders, Yoo was captured on CCTV driving into the complex where the Yoo family lived in his grey Toyota Camry on five occasions
The court was told that about 6.22pm on February 19, after the other parents and students had left his taekwondo studio, Yoo strangled Ms Cho in a storeroom before dragging her body into the office.
Later that evening, he was captured on CCTV taking Ms Cho's car keys before he later called his wife to say his new BMW had arrived.
'The car has arrived,' he told her during a brief phone call.
He then killed the seven-year-old boy in the storeroom by strangling him.
At 8.48pm, he drove Ms Cho's BMW X5 away from the scene to her Baulkham Hills townhouse, where he broke in.
At 9.18pm, Mr Cho returned home, where he was stabbed to death by Yoo with blows to the head, neck and chest.
Mr Cho stabbed Yoo in self-defence but was killed in the altercation.
Yoo returned to his studio and called his wife, saying: 'I've been stabbed with a knife.'
He drove to Westmead Hospita,l where he was treated for a collapsed lung and multiple stab wounds.
He claimed to police that he had been stabbed by three people in the car park of a North Parramatta Woolworths; however, officers quickly established that it was a lie after viewing CCTV footage.
Police searched Ms Cho's BMW, which Yoo had driven to the hospital, and found traces of blood inside.
Mr Cho's body was discovered the next day when friends became concerned and went to the couple's home.
Police then went to the Lion's Taekwondo and Martial Arts Academy, where they noticed blood on the front steps before the bodies of Ms Cho and the boy were found inside.
'During the investigation, police obtained evidence that suggested that the offender (Yoo) had interests in luxury items, social status and wealth,' the court documents state.
Police found evidence of him inspecting properties and falsely telling agents that he was acting on behalf of his wealthy employer or his parents, who had a budget of up to $50m.
He showed the mother of one of his students a picture that he falsely claimed was taken from his home with Harbour Bridge views.
He had further lied about owning property in Sydney's eastern suburbs and luxury cars, and that he holidayed in New York and California.
He also bizarrely told his wife that he was receiving emails from a wealthy woman in a high position, according to the court documents.
Yoo also told people, including his wife and sister, that he had a master's degree and PHD from Macquarie University and Sydney University; however, both institutions had no record of him.
He was also found to have lied about competing in taekwondo at the 2000 Olympics.
Yoo will appear in the Supreme Court on April 1.