[Sportschosun reporter Jung Yu-na] Broadcaster and lawyer Seo Dong-ju recalled the moment she came face to face with a man who had broken into her home by posing as a city gas meter reader, saying it felt "like the hair on my body stood on end."
On the 18th, a video titled "I thought he was really my fan'... The shocking identity of the stalker | Criminal psychology analyzed by Pyo Chang-won" was uploaded to Seo Dong-ju's YouTube channel.
That day, Seo Dong-ju spoke with criminal psychology expert Pyo Chang-won, head of the Crime Science Research Institute. She began by saying, "In May 2026, there was a major incident when a burglar broke into actress Kim Gyu-ri's home. The burglar was eventually caught, and it turned out he was the same person as the stalker who had come to our house in January earlier that year."
She then looked back on the moment, saying, "When the stalker first came, I told the director about it. We were filming, so I said to the producer and the director, 'I went through something like this,' and it turned out that person was exactly the same man."
Pyo said, "When I first heard about it, I thought he was a stalker targeting only lawyer Seo Dong-ju." He added, "But hearing today that he was the burglar who broke into Kim Gyu-ri's home was shocking." He explained, "Cases like this are actually not that common. Ordinary stalkers become fixated on one specific target, so they do not easily shift to someone else in a short period of time."
After hearing that, Seo Dong-ju said, "That made me think, 'So he wasn't really a stalker after all.'" She added, "I also wondered whether he had just come to commit a crime and said those things to try to reduce his sentence."
Seo Dong-ju gave a detailed account of how the stalker managed to enter her home. "I was resting when I got a text saying he was a city gas meter reader. He said he had visited a few times, but since no one was home, he would arrange a time and come back," she said. "I had no reason to suspect anything."
She continued, "Now that I think about it, it was strange that he contacted me in the evening, but at the time I did not think much of it. The next day, when my husband had gone to work and I was alone at home, he came by."
According to Seo Dong-ju, the man entered the house while pretending to be a city gas meter reader. She said, "I was on the phone with my husband, and he asked, 'Isn't a gas meter reading done outside?' Hearing that made me realize something was off."
Even after she opened the door, his suspicious behavior continued. Seo Dong-ju said, "He started walking around the house and taking photos. When I asked why a gas meter reader would take pictures, he said there was something he needed to photograph." She added, "He even took pictures of the water meter, and although I found it odd, I thought maybe I was being too suspicious, so I even gave him a drink before sending him off."
But the truth soon came out. As Seo Dong-ju left the house to go out, she encountered an actual city gas meter reader, and after checking, it was confirmed that the man was not an employee. She explained, "I was so shocked that I immediately checked with the gas company and was told they had never sent anyone like that. I reported it to the police right away."
Even more disturbing facts emerged during the police investigation. After Seo Dong-ju shared CCTV screenshots with neighbors and asked them to be careful, the man appeared near her home again. She said, "After confirming that I had left the house, he came back and tried to open the front door and even climb over the wall, but a neighborhood resident caught him." She added, "The resident took a photo and reported it, and he was eventually arrested."
Seo Dong-ju said, however, that the suspect was not detained. She explained, "The detectives said they had taken him in, but they could not say whether he would be detained, and in the end he was released without detention." She added, "A no-contact order was only maintained for a certain period, and that was how the case ended." She continued, "He knew where I lived, and I was in a situation where I could not move. After that, I lived in constant fear."
She also said she felt complicated emotions after recently hearing about the home invasion at actress Kim Gyu-ri's house. Seo Dong-ju said, "Suddenly, an article about Kim Gyu-ri came out, and a detective contacted me. He told me, 'Your case was also reported together with hers.'"
She added, "I felt that the bad feeling I had back then was right. The anxiety I felt at the time does not seem to have been just in my head."
Pyo said, "Approaching people by posing as a meter reader or a delivery worker is one of the classic methods criminals often use."
Seo Dong-ju then recalled the moment the man, pretending to be a gas meter reader, came to her home. "When I faced him, I really felt something rise all the way up to my chest. I got goosebumps all over, as if the hair on my body had stood up. I think it was the first time in my life I had ever felt that way," she said.
jyn2011@sportschosun.com
