Taekwondo master’s alleged triple murder case heard in Sydney court
February 21, 2024

A taekwondo master, who allegedly murdered a seven-year-old boy and a loving couple in Sydney’s west, has had his first day in court – but it was over in less than a minute.

Kyung Kwang Yoo, known to students at his dojang as “Master Lion”, was charged by homicide police at Westmead Hospital just before 9pm on Wednesday.

Police laid three charges of murder against Yoo; the first was the alleged strangulation of Min “Sue” Cho, 41, on the evening of February 19, according to court documents.

The second charge of murder related to a seven-year-old boy, who cannot be named due to laws protecting child victims of crime, killed that same evening.

Police allege Yoo strangled the pair at Lion’s Taekwondo Martial Arts Academy in North Parramatta before driving Cho’s BMW X5 to the home she had shared with her 39-year-old husband at Baulkham Hills.

The third murder charge against Yoo alleges he stabbed Steven Cho to death at their townhouse between 9pm and 10.59pm, about two hours after the killings at the dojang.

Yoo then drove himself in the BMW to Westmead Hospital, police say, where he was admitted with slash wounds to the chest and arms.

He told medical staff that he had been attacked in a supermarket car park, prompting health officials to contact police.

Yoo did not appear in court and did not dial into the hearing from his hospital bed, where he remains under police guard.

The matter was adjourned in a matter of seconds, with no application for Yoo’s release on bail. He will remain in custody – at first in hospital and then most likely in prison on remand – until the matter is next due in court in April.

‘My heart is boiling up again’

Social media pages, unearthed since the alleged murders, reveal Yoo had carefully honed a public image as a gentle family man, successful in business and education, and a master of martial arts.

They include dozens of videos of children practising and playing at his taekwondo studio, including birthday parties, and of courses he would run at local high schools.

In one video, Yoo plays soccer with a child in a field under a pink sky as his wife and dog watch on. “Having a precious time with my treasures on the beautiful Sunday afternoon,” he wrote.

But oddities also emerge, including a video in which Yoo has filled out a form requesting to be conferred with the title “Distinguished Senior Professor” from Macquarie University.

“Congratulations Master Lion for your new carrier,” the video is captioned. The university has no record of Yoo.

In the pandemic, Yoo posted photographs of workouts where he flexed his muscles in a dark garage-turned-gym and lamented the lockdown.

“My heart is boiling up again,” he wrote of his lockdown-induced solitude.

“Be strong my students, do not let this madness get you down. We can overcome this madness situation and let’s boiling our passion once more.”

Family and friends of Yoo’s alleged victims are in shock. Steven Cho’s mother was seen at the Baulkham Hills home inconsolable on Tuesday.

A neighbour, who gave only his first name as Taylor, said he was “shocked” and struggling to form an emotional response to the alleged triple murder.

He was quickly led away by homicide detectives and warned off from speaking to waiting camera crews.

Police are now working to establish what led to the triple homicide.

“What we allege from the information provided … is the woman and child were murdered at North Parramatta and then at some time after 6.30pm … [Yoo] has travelled to Baulkham Hills and has had a confrontation with the 39-year-old … and as a result of that confrontation, he has been stabbed to death,” homicide squad commander Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty said on Wednesday.

“There was no warnings from what we have gathered so far. It was out of the blue. It wasn’t something that was forewarned or planned,” Doherty said.

“We will allege there was murderous intent.”

‘He was highly respected’

Colleagues recalled Cho as a man “wrapped up in his work”.

“I have never met a more normal enthusiastic guy in the work environment. He was highly respected in his work at one of the largest construction companies in NSW,” a colleague, who did not wish to be named, told the Herald.

At the time of his death, Cho had worked at Richard Crookes Constructions for nearly two decades and was employed as a senior estimator, the apex of a long career in construction.

The colleague said Cho was referred to among colleagues as “the machine” because he was so good at his job. Such was his reliability that a family friend called police with concerns for his welfare within 16 hours of his death.

‘There was no warnings, from what we have gathered so far. It was out of the blue.’
Detective Superintendent Daniel Doherty of the homicide squad

Cho’s boss described his “shock and sadness” at the news in an email to staff.

Police are now working with the Australian embassy and its counterparts in South Korea to inform the Cho family.

“It’s a very sad tragedy,” Doherty said.

---

Alleged murderer Kwang Kyung Yoo ‘falsified records’ describing him as a distinguished professor
The taekwondo instructor who is expected to be charged with the murder of three people falsified his academic qualifications and taekwondo experience.
February 21, 2024

The man at the centre of an alleged triple murder falsified his university qualifications and taekwondo experience it can be revealed.

Kwang Kyung Yoo, known by his students as Master Lion, is set to be charged with murder after he is alleged to have fatally strangled 41-year-old Min Cho and a seven-year-old child inside his taekwondo studio before fatally stabbing 39-year-old husband Steven Cho.

Mr Yoo’s Facebook page describes him as a senior professor at Macquarie Uni.

However a spokesperson for Macquarie University told news.com.au there was no record of him in the uni’s current and past database.

Mr Yoo also proudly posted on social media a document supporting his bid for an even higher position – Distinguished Senior Professor.

But the spokesperson said the role doesn’t actually exist and it “isn’t a title that we use”.

He also boasted on his website he is currently studying a PhD in sports science at the University of Sydney.

But the university told news.com.au they have “no record of that individual being a student or graduate.”

Mr Yoo’s lies go beyond his academic record.

He also claimed on his martial arts academy website to have competed at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, something which was flatly denied by Australian taekwondo.

It comes as troubling new details come to light of the forty-nine-year-old including that he has a family of his own.

His distraught wife is understood to have repeatedly called him for answers after he was admitted to hospital. She is not accused of any wrongdoing.

In videos posted to Facebook, Mr Yoo can be seen filming his wife, son and small dog as the family walk their Kellyville neighbourhood and play soccer in the local park.

“Having a precious time with my treasures on [this] beautiful Sunday afternoon,” he captioned one video.

In another video, Mr Yoo can be seen sparring with his then-six-year-old son in 2022.

“Having a most great time with my Son. My Son was asking me for a little training today.”

Mr Yoo underwent surgery overnight after admitting himself to hospital with “slash wounds” to his chest, arms and stomach on Monday night, telling police he was attacked in a shopping centre car park in Parramatta, police say.

Meanwhile students at Mr Yoo’s prominent martial arts academy in North Parramatta have been left bewildered by the alleged triple murder.

A parent who didn’t want to be named told news.com.au the community has been “saddened and completely shocked” by what happened.

“We trusted him with our children,” the parent said.

“We watched and observed him. He was a very nice person. All of the community would think he would never do such a thing.”

The parent said Ms Cho often watched her child as he practised at the academy and was popular with other Korean mums who congregated there.

Another parent said they were sent a “weird text” by the academy on Tuesday morning informing them lessons were cancelled because the academy’s chief instructor, Master Yoo, was in hospital.

The cryptic message announced that “pick-up at 3:10pm for afterschool activities is no longer possible”.

“Due to injuries resulting from a car accident this morning Master is currently in the hospital,” the text read.

One mother said it was “clearly not a car accident when I saw all the police outside the studio when I went to pick up the kids from school”.

Tributes continue to pour in for the victims.

Steven Cho’s boss described his “shock and sadness” at the news in an email to staff, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

A close colleague at Richard Crookes Constructions described him as “a very outgoing young man wrapped up in his work as a mid-tier executive”.

“I have never met a more normal enthusiastic guy in the work environment,” the colleague enthused.

Mr Cho was referred to as “the machine” because he was so good at his job as a senior estimator at Richard Crookes Constructions, where he had worked for about two decades.

---

He worked with kids every day. Why did taekwondo master Yoo allegedly kill a student, two adults?
February 24, 2024

Master Lion spent his days surrounded by children.

He held school holiday workshops at his taekwondo studio, with Nerf gun challenges and mini Olympics. He ran birthday parties. He hosted maths and English tutoring programs. He posted videos of “Little Lions”, his youngest students.

And yet, Master Lion, the man they all looked up to – real name Kwang Kyung Yoo – is accused of killing one of those students with his own hands inside his Parramatta dojang on Monday night. The boy was strangled. He was just seven years old.

Police also accuse Yoo of murdering a woman, Min Cho, at the dojang that same night, before taking her white BMW X5 to her Baulkham Hills townhouse and killing her husband Steven, a highly respected construction manager.

“There [were] no warnings from what we have gathered so far. It was out of the blue,” said Homicide Squad commander Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty on Wednesday.

The deaths have shocked Sydney. Police have not revealed a motive, although friends say Min Cho’s shyness and the pride and affection Steven Cho displayed for his wife on social media suggest a love triangle is unlikely.

For many parents, who regularly trust their children to extracurricular tutors, the case has raised frightening questions about how a man whose career and business revolved around teaching children could be charged with killing a seven-year-old boy.

For a family looking for a martial arts studio, Yoo’s would have seemed a good choice. He promoted an impressive resume, which pointed to qualifications from top-tier universities, myriad competition victories and selection for the 2000 Olympics.

His dojang appeared popular too. The website for Lion’s taekwondo studio in North Parramatta shows pictures of happy, well-behaved children practising martial arts in their little white suits. It also offers holiday camps and birthday parties crowded with balloons.

Every afternoon, it runs two hours of classes for Little Lion Kids – aged five to 12 – and another for Lion teens, before an adult class at 6.30pm.

As his website and social media profile pointed out, Yoo had also spent years running classes for neurodivergent students at a local high school, a job that gave him another layer of legitimacy and suggested he had a Working with Children Check (WWCC).

His Facebook page – which was taken down on Thursday night – shows reels of children practising martial arts, interspersed with intense, muscular images of him training and an occasional video with his own family. “Having a precious time with my treasures,” he wrote.

But a closer look reveals Yoo is not all he claimed.

He was never selected for the Sydney Olympics, Australian Taekwondo said in a statement. His claim to be a professor at Macquarie University – he even posted an application to be a “distinguished professor” on his social media – was also kiboshed by the university.

Sydney University had no records to support his claims that he was studying a PhD in sports science.

He is not a member of the Australian Taekwondo governing body and the dojang is not an affiliated club. Practitioners don’t have to be, and his site doesn’t make the claim, but membership provides an extra layer of protection because affiliates must abide by integrity policies.

None of this suggests a tendency to violence. But it’s odd, and it might have been a red flag for customers if they’d known about it.

The case also highlights the limitations of screening systems such as WWCC, which are designed to protect children from people who have come to police attention for crimes against minors, ranging from sexual to physical.

‘What the working with children check does is give us a false sense of security.’
Janise Mitchell, deputy CEO of Australian Childhood Foundation

Screening systems can only pick up red flags or patterns of behaviour that are already on record; they are not judges of character or predictors of the future.

Late last year, a young man who had been hired as a sports assistant at a Sydney private school violently murdered a young female sports coach, who was just 21 years old, in the school’s gymnasium toilets, before taking his own life. He had a WWCC too.

Kim Dilati from Sydney Clinical and Forensic Psychology said the WWCC system was not designed to identify people with underlying issues. “There’s no way of screening for them,” she said. “They often go unnoticed until it’s too late.”

Janise Mitchell, the deputy chief executive of the Australian Childhood Foundation, said the WWCC process looks for offences, charges, patterns of behaviour and notifiable conduct within a workplace that could endanger children.