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Robin Hood or fugitive lothario? Shin Chang-won's 907 days of theft, escapes and lovin' on the run.

Published: 03 Mar. 2026, 07:00

LEE SOO-JUNG
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From left: Shin Chang-won's handwritten letter; a mug shot of Shin Chang-won [JOONGANG ILBO, YUN YOUNG]

[KOREAN CRIME FILES #15]

Behind the glitz and glamour seen in pop culture, Korea’s grimmest and most harrowing crime stories, some more well-known than others, continue to haunt society today. The Korea JoongAng Daily takes a deep dive into some of these stories, sharing a glimpse into the darker side of society as well as the most up-to-date known facts. — Ed.

A skinny, 174-centimeter-tall (5.7-foot) young man weighing just 60 kilograms (132 pounds) silently vanished from a prison in Busan as darkness veiled the compound at dawn in January 1997.

It was only the prelude to the longest manhunt in modern Korean history.

For 907 days, a series of nationwide dragnets followed. A record-high bounty of 50 million won ($35,000) was placed on the fugitive’s head.

About nine months later, the fugitive was sighted by an undercover police officer, who fired a gas pistol at his head. Although his face was wounded and bleeding, he escaped and disappeared once again.

The elusive fugitive was Shin Chang-won, a 29-year-old man who was serving a life sentence.

Shin Chang-won is arrested after his 907-day-long run at an apartment in Suncheon, South Jeolla, in July 1999. [JOONGANG ILBO]

Police, even with help from SWAT teams, police dogs and helicopters, were always a step behind. Traces left by Shin — a used car, a journal, knives, license plates and stolen jewels — provided few clues for law enforcement agents to use.

"Everybody appears to be keeping an eye on me," Shin wrote in his journal on the last day of 1997. "I am intentionally visiting places with police officers to become braver."

Soon, he brazenly made the entire nation his stage and indulged in the luxuries of coffee, money and women. Shin, an ex-convict and fugitive, had become a skilled robber over time and occasionally a benefactor to the underprivileged. Soon, he and his girlfriends were portrayed as Korea’s Bonnie and Clyde.

However, Shin's peace of mind was ironic — he knew his freedom would ultimately be taken away for the rest of his life.

“I am finally at peace,” Shin said after his surrender and arrest in July 1999.

A prisoner to a fugitive

Police officers search for Shin Chang-won, who had been on the lam for a year in a rural town in South Chungcheong in January 1998. [JOONGANG ILBO]

In March 1989, Shin and four other accomplices broke into a home in Seongbuk District in northern Seoul. They stole valuables worth 30 million won. One of the accomplices killed the homeowner.

The murder made Shin a suspect in a robbery resulting in death. After six months on the run, he was arrested at a cafe in the Cheongnyangni area in Dongdaemun District in eastern Seoul.

He was sentenced to life in prison later that year. In 1994, Shin was transferred to the Busan prison, a facility from which escape was reputably impossible due to heightened security measures — all of which ultimately proved useless in keeping Shin behind bars.

Shin successfully escaped the prison on his first attempt, after years of meticulous planning.

Shin Chang-won's prison break [YUN YOUNG]

He secretly obtained two fretsaws from a work site in the prison compound. He ground iron bars attached to a ceiling vent with the fretsaws for 20 minutes each day during the evening audio broadcast. It was his daily routine for two months.

For Shin, the ceiling vent, measuring 30 centimeters (11.8 inches) in width and length, was a road to freedom. He intentionally lost nearly 15 kilograms to make his body a perfect fit. He pretended to have constipation to reduce his food intake.

At around 3 a.m. on Jan. 20, 1997, when other inmates were sleeping, Shin quietly crawled into the ventilation shaft and made his way out of the building. He then slipped into a fenced construction area within the compound through a hole he had dug for two months. Then, he climbed the 4.5-meter (14.8-foot) outer wall using a metal beam from the construction site.

At around 6 a.m., correctional staffers discovered he was missing, and the vent entrance had been destroyed.

Love, betrayal and hunt

Shin Chang-won's girlfriend, who lived with him, is referred to the Suncheon Police Precinct in South Jeolla in 1999. [JOONGANG ILBO]

Shin’s freedom was not free of crises. He had his own saviors: multiple women who were fascinated by Shin and offered him shelter.

On Oct. 15, 1997, an undercover police officer, who had received a tip about Shin’s whereabouts — the home of Shin’s girlfriend, surnamed Jeon, in South Chungcheong — was awaiting his return on the stairs leading to his hideout. At around 5 a.m., Shin sensed that the air was heavier than usual and froze on the stairs.

The officer, obsessed with improving his performance numbers, fired his gas pistol twice at Shin’s hand and head. Although the shots hit, Shin was invincible. He just wiped the blood from his face and fled.

Several days later, Shin came to see Jeon and asked her to run away with him. However, she said no, and the couple broke up.

Within 10 days of the breakup, Shin began a new relationship with a 21-year-old woman surnamed Kang. Shin introduced Kang to Jeon, who came to return his belongings.

Jeon, who allegedly hoped for a reunion, felt betrayed. She later cooperated with the police and volunteered as bait.

On Jan. 11, 1998, Shin agreed to meet Jeon at a quiet parking lot in Cheonan, South Chungcheong. However, what greeted him was not his ex-girlfriend but two burly male detectives. They clobbered Shin. When a pistol aimed at Shin malfunctioned, he bolted away.

Every failure to capture Shin made him a more heroic figure.

In July 1998, his bounty rose from 10 million won to 50 million won — an amount equivalent to the cost of jeonse (lump-sum payment) housing in the affluent Gangnam neighborhood at the time.

Taste of freedom

A stolen car used by Shin Chang-won is seen abandoned in an undated file photo. [JOONGANG ILBO]

Shin thrived on the run. He casually spent his afternoons in cafes and had 12 girlfriends.

Of them, nine were cafe hostesses, two were adult entertainers and one was a gas station worker, according to a KBS report.

Nonetheless, Shin did not take those relationships for granted.

He took robbery as his profession. His girlfriends sold the stolen goods and earned money in return. He stole a total of 980 million won in 105 robberies.

Police later found 8.6 million won in cash and found $6,900 in a luxury sedan that had been stolen and abandoned by Shin in mid-1998.

Bundles of cash are seen in two golf bags belonged to Shin Chang-won in an undated photo. The bags were found at his hideout in South Jeolla after his arrest in 1999. [JOONGANG ILBO]

Shin occasionally shared his criminal proceeds with those in need. He donated 1 million won to a facility for people with disabilities in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, in late 1997. He also offered 400,000 won each to two child breadwinners.

Shin — and his girlfriends — appeared to be a perfect epitome of Bonnie and Clyde.

“I would target lawmakers and high-ranking officials,” Shin wrote in his journal. “Although I inevitably steal to live, I would never inflict harm on ordinary people.”

In another journal, he wrote that he had primarily targeted luxury villa units spanning 231 square meters or larger.

Rumors that Shin only robbed the wealthy spread. A cartoon romanticizing his behavior became a best-seller in rental bookshops.

“There are people who say Shin Chang-won is a god,” an anonymous pedestrian said during a street interview in a SBS crime investigative documentary in 1998.

“He made a great and admirable escape,” another passerby said.

Cartoon books about Shin Chang-won in a photo taken in 1999 [JOONGANG ILBO]

Some experts attributed society’s embrace of Shin to the Asian financial crisis of 1997.

“It was a time when many people were psychologically exhausted due to the IMF crisis,” said sociologist Park Dong-hyun in the SBS crime documentary aired in 2019, using the popular term for the 1997 financial meltdown. “Shin appeared at that moment and served as an inspiration for resisting privileged entitlements.”

However, it later emerged that Shin had spent very little on charitable causes. He indeed spent most of his money supporting his life on the lam. And on women.

A rat in a trap

Police officers inspect vehicles to catch fugitive Shin Chang-won on a road connecting Gyeonggi and southern Seoul in January 1998. [JOONGANG ILBO]

On July 16, 1999, a 29-year-old electronic mechanic changed Shin’s fate. The mechanic, a former military intelligence officer, visited his hideout in Suncheon, South Jeolla, where Shin lived together with his last girlfriend.

There were no wedding photos on the walls, but there were too many exercise machines installed at the home, which was supposed to be occupied by a newlywed couple. He also found it bizarre that the man — Shin — was wearing his hat indoors. The mechanic headed to a nearby realtor to check the house’s ownership.

Later that day, a group of armed police officers stormed his hideout through the main entrance and terrace. A gun was pointed at Shin’s head.

“You're Shin Chang-won, right?” a police officer asked.

“Yes, I am Shin Chang-won,” he said.

His arrest did not silence the nation. The rainbow-colored T-shirt he wore during his arrest — a knock-off of Italian fashion brand Missoni — became a fad among youngsters. The authentic Missoni T-shirt soon sold out nationwide.

International news agency Reuters likened Shin to Korea's “Robin Hood.” Korean police authorities later complained that the comparison was an insult.

Two young men hold a T-shirt in a same design that fugitive Shin Chang-won wore during his arrest in July 1999. [JOONGANG ILBO]

His arrest also exposed poor police organizational discipline as they missed 11 opportunities to capture Shin.

In addition, a police officer was sacked for raping Shin’s former girlfriend at the couple's hideout in South Chungcheong when she was alone in October 1997.

In February 2000, the Busan District Court gave Shin an additional 22 years and six months in prison for thefts committed on the run.

Shin has since attempted suicide twice in jail — in August 2011 and May 2023, respectively. He survived both attempts.

“What could I say as a person whose sins cannot be redeemed even by the death penalty?” Shin wrote in a 2020 handwritten letter to a production team of another SBS program.

“All my words are nothing more than self-serving excuses. I want to quietly reflect on my behavior and spend the rest of my life here.”