(L.A.) Joseph Chung, 51, Kills Self After Murdering Wife and Child

Case Number: 2023-02473

Korean Murder-Suicide Los Angeles County is reporting the death of a 51-year-old male of Korean ethnicity that occurred at a residence.

The coroner’s office has identified the man as Joseph Chung.

Manner of Death: Suicide

Cause of Death: Sharp Force Injuries To The Neck

RIP JOSEPH CHUNG (August 23, 1971 – March 3, 2023)

Local Koreans say the decedent was a part-time pastor who killed his wife YiYoung Kim (49) and their daughter Alisha Chung (8), before killing himself.

The location of the horrible incident was an apartment on Denker Avenue in Gardena, a city in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County.

Fellow churchgoers say Chung was of the so-called “1.5 generation” of Korean Americans who speak Korean fluently. He had worked as an insurance agent until recently. The couple was referred to as affectionate lovebirds, even holding hands inside church.

His family appeared to have been experiencing financial difficulties.

The Korean American community has notably high rates of suicides, particularly murder-suicides, in which the patriarch of the family kills his wife and child(ren), then himself.