At the age of 19, she murdered her sister’s husband at her sister’s instigation. “I thought I was doing the right thing for my family.”
Long-term Korean inmate Andrew Seo (50, Korean name Seo Seung-mo), who was serving a 100-year sentence for murdering his sister’s live-in partner in the United States, was released early after 30 years.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Mr. Seo was recognized as a model inmate and was released early from Kewani Prison in western Illinois on the 26th (local time). On this day, six people, including Korean church members and lawyer Candice Chambliss, who had been leading the movement for Seo’s pardon, congratulated Seo by giving him tofu in front of the prison gate. Regarding this, the Chicago Tribune explained, “It is a Korean tradition to give with the meaning of washing away negative things.”
Mr. Seo was sentenced to 100 years in prison in 1995 for shooting and killing his sister’s live-in partner, Robert O’Dubane (then 31 years old), in Bucktown, Chicago, on September 25, 1993, when he was 19 years old. He later had his sentence reduced to 80 years on appeal. At the time, the U.S. prosecutors announced that the Seo siblings committed the crime with the goal of receiving $250,000 (approximately 330 million won) in life insurance money in Odubein’s name.
Some interpret the misfortune of the Seo family as revealing the tragedy of Korean immigration history. Seo’s father immigrated to Chicago in 1976 with his family, dreaming of the American dream. However, he died of cancer in 1985, nine years after immigrating. After his mother, who ran a laundromat and took care of the family, was brutally murdered by a robber in 1987, Seo relied on her older sister to live.
Even in difficult circumstances, Seo continued to lead an exemplary student life, including serving as student council president at a famous private high school. In 1993, when Ms. Seo was in her second year of college, her older sister Catherine (54) said, “Odubein killed her mother, and Odubein squandered the property her mother left behind through her gambling and abused herself.” He instigated her murder. Seo claims that he later shot and killed Odu Bein while hiding in the garage of her older sister’s house.
In the 2010 documentary ‘House of Seo’ about her story, Seo said, “I thought (killing Odubein) was a way to avenge my mother and protect my sister. “She believed in doing the right thing for her family,” he said. In a local media interview in 2017, it was claimed that “the older sister murdered her mother for an inheritance worth $800,000 (approximately 1 billion won).” Catherine is currently serving a life sentence.
The Korean community has petitioned the Illinois state government for amnesty a total of four times. Immediately after being released from prison, Mr. Seo cried in an interview with the Chicago Tribune and said, “It’s been 30 years, so I’m so grateful that I can’t express my feelings at this moment. I will do really well in the future, I promise.” Mr. Seo, who obtained a bachelor’s degree and teacher certification while in prison, is known to be planning to work as an educator for local youth.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.