Um In-sook, a former insurance planner, shocked South Korea with a string of heinous crimes driven by greed. At just 30 years old when she was arrested, Um had orchestrated the deaths and injuries of family members and husbands to collect insurance payouts.
She married her first husband, Mr. Lee, in her early twenties, and appeared to outsiders as a devoted wife, especially during his frequent hospitalizations. But behind this façade, she had secretly taken out four insurance policies under his name. In 2000, she sedated him with antidepressants and stabbed his eye with a pin, leaving him blind. Over time, she staged further injuries, and by 2002, Lee died from complications. Um received nearly 280 million won in payouts.
Not long after, she remarried. Her second husband, Mr. Im, was subjected to the same horrific methods—drugged, blinded, and burned. He died in 2003, and Um collected 39 million won. Frustrated that she couldn’t extract more, she turned her violence toward her own family. That same year, she blinded her older brother with acid and later tried to kill her mother and siblings in a staged apartment fire after drugging them.
Her crimes escalated until 2005, when she was finally caught after setting fire to an acquaintance’s home and attempting arson at a hospital. By then, she had caused the deaths or injuries of at least 10 people, raking in more than 500 million won in insurance money.
Psychological testing revealed she scored full marks on the antisocial personality disorder scale, confirming her as a psychopath. Convicted on multiple counts, including arson and grievous bodily harm, she was sentenced to life imprisonment and is currently serving her term at Cheongju Women’s Prison.
The case remains one of South Korea’s most notorious examples of insurance fraud murder, drawing renewed attention after the 2019 Gapyeong Valley case, in which Lee Eun-hae staged her husband’s drowning to claim insurance money.
Sources: Daum
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