The family of three people murdered by a Sydney taekwondo instructor say they will spend the rest of their lives “waiting for death” after losing their most precious loved ones.
Kwang Yoo killed Min, Steven and seven-year-old Benjamin Cho in February last year, with the court hearing the motive was to steal the family’s BMW.
The 51-year-old faced sentencing on Thursday, as grieving family and friends filled the courtroom, with crocheted daisies – Min’s favourite flower – pinned to their collars as a tribute to the late 41-year-old mother.
The court heard Yoo strangled Min inside his Parramatta taekwondo studio, while a class of children trained in the room next door. Her young son Ben was killed shortly after, before Yoo drove the family’s BMW to their Baulkham Hills home and fatally stabbed Steven later that night.
For the first time, Yoo heard directly from the victims’ family, with Min’s parents delivering a heartbreaking impact statement.
“In just one day, the three most precious members of our family were taken from us,” they said.
“Wallowing and fumbling in an endless sea of darkness after losing Min, Steven and our grandson Ben who was yet to even bloom in life.”
“We will spend the rest of our lives in excruciating pain waiting for death.”
Min’s older brother said he struggled to find purpose after the killings, and questioned how his parents could cope with the grief.
“Mum’s vanity table is piled high with tissues soaked in tears,” he said in the statement, read in court by a family friend.
“I just can’t figure it out, Min, what should I live for?”
Throughout the emotional statements, Yoo kept his head down, reading a Bible in the dock and refusing to look at the family.
Agreed facts tendered to the court showed Yoo was behind on rent and had thousands of dollars in credit card debt. In the months leading up to the murders, he had been lying to his wife, claiming he had secured extra work at a school and would soon be given a BMW.
Min drove a BMW herself, and prosecutors said Yoo killed her in a rear room of the dojo on February 19, 2024.
He later strangled Ben in the same room and drove Min’s car to the family home, where he stabbed Steven, who had managed to injure Yoo in a self-defence attempt before he passed away.
Yoo then told his wife he had been attacked and needed hospital treatment, telling the medical staff he had been stabbed in a Woolworths car park.
Police reviewed CCTV footage and found no evidence to support the story.
The court also heard Yoo had a history of exaggerating his achievements, with Taekwondo Australia confirming many of his claimed awards were not real.
Forensic psychiatrist Dr Andrew Ellis told the court Yoo often engaged in “grandiose” thinking about his status and success.
They were “essentially a grandiose or self-important fantasy that he’s richer, that he has more social status, and that he has more success in life,” Dr Ellis said.
Yoo told the psychiatrist he made a sudden decision to commit the murders, but evidence showed he had visited the Cho home multiple times beforehand, with Dr Ellis saying the intention may have formed weeks earlier.
“His overall insight into his motives was very limited, and his ability to convey a coherent reason for what he’d done wasn’t present,” he said.
He added that Yoo’s lies were “psychiatrically unusual” because they were so easy to disprove.
“It’s an immature way of managing your own self-image,” Dr Ellis said.
During the hearing Yoo responded only once, saying “yes” when told his sentence will be handed down next month.
Image: 7News
