[12][15] Based on the confession of the suspect, she bought a knife on the date of the murder and took it to the school, intending to perpetuate a murder-suicide by killing herself and a child she chose randomly.
Kim was reportedly the last student to remain in school after the lessons were over, and hence, the suspect targeted her, luring her into the audiovisual room, lying that she wanted to give the girl a book.
[7] Upon the police's request, the National Forensic Service conducted an autopsy on the girl to determine the cause of death,[16] which was revealed to be multiple sharp force injuries.
[17][18][19] The police announced on 11 February that they would request for formal warrants for the arrest of the perpetrator and search of her residence and personal electronic devices, and revealed the possibility of disclosing the suspect's identity.
[21] The tragic incident prompted urgent concerns about school safety, teacher mental health monitoring, and the education system's capacity to prevent such acts of violence.
Acting President Choi Sang-mok offered his condolences during a Cabinet meeting over the child's death and directed both the Education Ministry and the authorities to conduct a thorough investigation of the case.
Kim Sang-hoon, the People Power Party's top policymaker, stated that there would be consultations with the government to decide on possible policies to safeguard the lives and safety of children in schools.
For instance, the South Chungcheong Education Office planned to provide portable emergency devices to first- and second-graders and enable them to use the devices to notify their parents in urgent situations, as well as text messages to inform parents when their children left the school, permitting the children be accompanied by their legal guardians in after-school programmes, and the installation of AI-based CCTV cameras to detect possible suspicious activities.
The North Jeolla Office of Education also annouced their plans to enhance the supervision and review of teachers on leave, mainly to assess if they were suitable to return to their jobs.
The North Gyeongsang provincial government also considered increasing the rate of police patrols, implementing a "safety network" for parents and expanding escort services, enabling firefighters and officers to accompany children leaving public care institutions.
Pyo Chang-won, director of a criminal science institute, analayzed the case and found that the suspect exhibited aggressive and violent tendencies and that she targeted a vulnerable and weak victim of young age, which further corroborated these characteristics demonstrated by the perpetrator.
[44] Bae Sang-hoon, a professor in Woosuk University's Department of Police Administration, concurred that the crime did not stem from the psychiatric condition of the suspect, but it indicated a form of "power-assertive murder", where the perpetrator deliberately targeted a victim weaker than them to assert some degree of dominance, and pointed out that depression was not an excuse to the suspect's premeditation and decision to procure the murder weapon beforehand and target a child.
[45] Paik Jong-woo, a professor of psychiatry at Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, expressed disappointment over the inaction towards the prior personality issues of the suspect, and cited that there could have been measures undertaken to intervene and avert any possible crimes, like engaging a psychiatrist to properly assess the teacher's mental well-being.