A video still of the late director Kim Chang-min and, placed in front, the screenplay ‘Reply’, which became the deceased’s posthumous work. Bereaved family’s Instagram account

Controversy is mounting as the identities of the assailants who beat director Kim Chang-min to death have been made public.

Recently, concrete informationsuch as the names, ages, and facesof men in their 20s labeled as assailants, A and B, has spread online. In particular, news that one of the perpetrators released a hip-hop track last month has brought public anger to a peak. The track is said to include lyrics such as “The innocent me is already gone” “Become a thug,” prompting strong condemnation for a lack of remorse.

A and B are suspected of assaulting director Kim at a restaurant in Sutaek-dong, Guri, in the early hours of October 20 last year, causing his death. It was found that director Kim went to a 24-hour restaurant after his son said he wanted to eat pork cutlet and then met with misfortune.

The two were said to belong to a gang active in the Guri area of Gyeonggi Province, but this is reported to be untrue. A man affiliated with the gang drew a line via YouTube, saying, “They are close to the organization but are not members.”

Song Eon-Seok, floor leader of the People Power Party, speaks at a floor countermeasures meeting held at the National Assembly on the 3rd. 2026.4.3 Senior Staff Reporter Park Min-Gyu

As the controversy grew, political figures also weighed in. People Power Party floor leader Song Eon-Seok said on the 4th via social networking service (SNS), “If even the prosecution’s right to request supplementary investigations disappears, it raises serious doubts about whether the police will be able to investigate crimes when an incident like director Kim’s occurs in the future.”

He particularly pointed to shortcomings in the initial investigation, sharply criticizing, “Without the request for supplementary investigation, the police were so incompetent they couldn’t even properly single out the assailants; and the court, which makes leisurely remarks like the suspects have fixed residences even though they killed a person through group violence, is utterly deplorable.”

He further said, “Committing brutal violence in front of a victim’s family is a severe and hard-to-heal act of emotional and psychological abuse,” and proposed legislation for aggravated punishment.

The assault case that led to director Kim’s death became known only last month, triggering a fierce uproar.

CCTV footage from the time of the fatal assault on the late director Kim Chang-min. JTBC News

Closed-circuit (CC) TV inside the restaurant at the time of the incident, released by JTBC, showed a group of men in their 20s cornering director Kim in a corner of the restaurant, surrounding him, and unleashing a indiscriminate beating. They strangled him from behind until he lost consciousness, then dragged him outside the restaurant and continued the assault.

Director Kim, who was transported to a hospital, was pronounced brain-dead on November 7, about 15 days after the incident, and passed away after saving four lives through organ donation.

At the time, the police identified one man as a suspect and sought an arrest warrant, but it was returned once with a request from prosecutors for supplementary investigation. Four months later, they again sought arrest warrants for two men, A and B, on charges of causing death by injury, but the Namyangju branch of the Uijeongbu District Court rejected the request, saying, “They have fixed residences and there is no concern about destruction of evidence.” The police are said to have recently forwarded the case to the prosecution without detention.

The bereaved family argues there were problems throughout the initial response and the entire investigation process. They say transport to the hospital was delayed by about an hour, missing the golden time, and that the investigation was also delayed. It is also said they live in the same area as the suspects and have expressed anxiety, drawing intense attention from the public and various sectors and further amplifying the scandal’s ripple effects.