Who Reads the Heart of Darkness. South Korea's First Profiler in Pursuit of Serial Killers

The author of the book is the first profiler in South Korea and a direct participant in the events described. His story formed the basis for the drama “Those Who Read the Heart of Darkness”—about the criminal investigators of South Korea who created profiling in the country as a science and investigated cases of famous Korean serial killers. The mid-1980s. A student of the police university, Yoon Vecheh ul, studying the works of Western sociologists and criminologists, understands that soon South Korea will be overwhelmed by an epidemic of serial murders—like the one that happened in the United States. Later, he becomes impressed by the legendary FBI profiler John Douglas’s book “Mindhunter,” in which the capture of maniacs is described by methods unknown in Korea— and this only strengthens his belief in the coming murder epidemic… Becoming a police inspector, he dreams of creating profiling and, to do so, takes on a promising investigator, Kwon Iryeon, who will become the future author of this book. By the early 2000s, Yoon Vechehul’s predictions come true—serial killers begin to appear in Korea. Kwon Iryeon has to not only learn profiling an entirely unfamiliar type of criminal, relying on Douglas’s book, but also defend the need to implement innovative investigation methods. “Those Who Read the Heart of Darkness” is a real (and thus even more fast-paced) story about the difficult path of South Korea’s first profiling team and its hunt for serial killers infamous in the country. “The Korean ‘Mindhunter’… It’s fascinating to read about how scattered fragments of information are assembled into a single whole, how crime analysis is conducted, or how psychological struggle with a criminal unfolds—no less interesting than a detective story. The vivid and expressive style of former journalist Ko Nam intensifies the impression.” — The Hankyore newspaper “When I read the book, the unbending will of people who defended new methods for investigating horrifying crimes had a hypnotic effect on me.” — Pak Yeonsu, executive producer of the drama “Those Who Read the Heart of Darkness”