Tag: murder

Apparently this elderly couple had their son plus his wife and children visit on weekends which created a lot of noise which for whatever reason set this guy off.  Sadly the elderly woman was killed by the stabbing:

The 34-year-old man suspected of having stabbed a senior couple that lived upstairs from him in in Hanam, Gyeonggi, for ignoring his requests to quiet down was caught by the police at a sauna in Incheon, Hanam Police said on Monday.

The suspect is accused of having planned the crime in advance, as he allegedly had a knife with him, which was purchased one month ago, when he visited the elderly couple at about 5:50 p.m. on Saturday. The suspect had also allegedly installed a video camera in front of the victim’s home in order to find out the door passcode.

Although the husband, 68, and the wife, 67, were both stabbed, the wife died after being transferred to a hospital while the husband is in stable condition, police have announced.

“I remember having locked the door,” testified the husband. “I don’t know how he managed to open it.”

“I faced difficulties in my daily life because of the loud noise coming from upstairs,” the suspect later testified to police. “I personally went upstairs twice in March and told them to be quiet, but they kept making noise. I just got more and more stressed out as the days went by, and that’s why I did what I did.”  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

Here is a general safety note to everyone, do not let strange people into your apartment that you just met in the elevator:

The 36-year-old sex offender arrested last Saturday for allegedly murdering a 60-year-old woman in Gaepo-dong, southern Seoul, did not know his victim as he claimed.

Police now say he stalked a complete stranger, sneaked into her house to rape her and then killed her so he wouldn’t get caught.

After his arrest on June 18, the suspect, surnamed Kim, claimed he met the victim while working at a real estate agency and had known her for about a month. He told police he asked her to lend him money and murdered her when she refused.

But investigators found no record of calls or texts between the two.

Under questioning, Kim changed his story. According to police, Kim saw the victim in a parking lot on June 14, two days before the murder. Security camera footage caught him in the same parking lot as the victim.

He tailed her as she drove to her residence because he wanted to develop a “good relationship” with her, Kim said, according to police. He followed her into the apartment building elevator and introduced himself as an insurance salesman, a profession he had started to study.

He asked to come inside her apartment to tell her about policies and she agreed. When she punched the code into the security keypad of her apartment, he noted the combination of numbers.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read the rest at the link, but this guy was out on parole after being jailed for 10 years for a prior sexual assault and was forced to wear an ankle bracelet.  However, it broke and no one was tracking him when he committed the crime.

A night of drinking on a South Korean fishing boat led to the murder of its captain and chief engineer in the Indian Ocean:

Korea Coast Guard officers have taken into custody two Vietnamese crewmen who allegedly killed the Korean captain and chief engineer of a fishing boat.

The detention was made at Port of Victoria in Seychelles, in the Indian Ocean, Thursday night, as the Korean vessel arrived there four days after the alleged killings.

The coast guard officers are now bringing the suspects to Korea.

According to the coast guard, seven of its officers boarded the vessel, Kwang Hyun 803, with local police when a pilot was boarding around 10:10 p.m. local time. The coast guard gained control of the ship and had the vessel steered to the pier. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but the two suspects have been flown back to Korea from the Seychelles to be investigated.

Here is an update on the aftermath of the Gangnam murder case:

Korea on Wednesday unveiled a series of measures aimed at creating a more equal society for women, about a month after a woman was killed by a stranger in a high-traffic neighborhood in Seoul.

The murder sent a shockwave through a nation that has made strides in recent years but apparently leaves much to be desired in areas of gender equality.

The measures announced Wednesday focus on preventing hate crimes against women, better protecting victims of such crimes and raising awareness for gender equality in the country, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said. It held ministerial-level talks with the Ministry of Education and the National Police Agency.

The measures are a follow-up to the first batch announced earlier this month when Korea decided to seek the maximum default sentence for hate crimes against women and actively appeal sentences that fall short.  [Korea Times]

You can read the rest at the link, but the murder of the young Korean woman in Gangnam reminds me so much of the Orlando shooting debate.  The scale of the two murders is no where near the same, but both led to false national debates.  For the Orlando shooting the debate has centered on banning so called “assault rifles” though no one has shown any evidence the terrorist would not have shot up that night club if every AR-15 in the country was confiscated.  The real problem appears to be once again a person with a history of mental trouble that was easily influenced by radical Islamic extremism.

In the Gangman murder the national debate in Korea has been about hate crimes against women when the murderer for years was in and out of mental hospitals and became homeless because his family could no longer handle caring for him due to his mental illness.  In my opinion the national debate to respond to both murder incidents does not address the core problems, but instead have been hijacked by activists to push pet political causes.

It is good that the police have arrested the man who murdered a Uijongbu woman on a mountain outside the city:

The suspect in the murder on Mount Sapae in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi, changed his story and admitted he initially tried to rape the victim.

Uijeongbu police announced on Tuesday that they found problems with the suspected culprit’s denial of rape in the initial questioning.

“While conducting analysis at the crime scene and reconstructing the crime, we found some contradictions with the culprit’s testimony,” an official in charge said. “We then used a lie detector to find out that he actually had attempted to rape the victim before killing and robbing her.”

The suspected culprit, surnamed Jeong, confessed to having initially denied raping the victim in order to avoid heavier punishment. The 45-year-old turned himself in on Friday after strangling a 55-year-old woman to death and robbing her of cash on Mount Sapae on June 7. The body of the woman was found on Thursday morning by hikers.

According to police, Jeong brought a bottle of soju to the mountain in misery after finding out he only had 14,000 won ($11.87) left in his pocket. While roaming the mountain drunk, he allegedly spotted the victim sitting on a bench by herself and approached her from behind with the intention of raping her. Police say that after strangling her with his left arm and punching her in the head twice, he undressed her from the waist up and pulled down her pants, but when he realized the victim was dead he ran away with her wallet, which contained 15,000 won and a credit card.   [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

I don’t think there is any more danger for women on Korean mountains than there would be in the city.  That is why I don’t think these recent murders should cause people to avoid hiking in Korea:

When a 55-year-old female hiker was found dead this week on a mountain in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi, police officers didn’t want to think she was murdered.

Just 10 days before and 7 kilometers (4 miles) away on a different mountain, a 60-year-old woman was stabbed to death by a man recently released from prison. Murders are hardly common at spots where people hike, a favorite Korean pastime.

But on Thursday, police acknowledged that the 55-year-old appears to have been choked to death. Autopsy results found bruises “all over her body.”

A sexual assault is also possible.

Police are now wondering whether lone female hikers have become new targets for brutal killings.

“When a murder case unfolds on a mountain, very rarely can you find a witness,” said Lee Yoon-ho, a police administration professor at Dongguk University in Jung District, central Seoul.

The police have no suspects in the alleged murder case on Mount Sapae (1,808 feet), where the 55-year-old was choked, which is one of the most popular hiking destinations in Gyeonggi.

A lot of women say they are less keen to go hiking alone.

On a recent visit to the scene of the crime on Mount Surak (2,100 feet), where the 60-year-old was stabbed, very few people were spotted. Even male hikers admitted they were feeling slightly anxious.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read the rest at the link, but the article calls for CCTV camera to be set up along popular hiking trails to protect hikers.  It seems a bit overboard to me to put up CCTV cameras all over the country to protect against crimes.  If people are so concerned for their safety than carry some pepper spray for personal protection.

Police recommend murder, rape charges for base worker following #Okinawa woman's death: https://t.co/CJeXBSZcAG pic.twitter.com/BOke4H5wBY

— Erik Slavin (@eslavin_stripes) June 9, 2016

North Korea delivers a typically North Korean comment on murder of an Okinawan woman by a U.S. military contractor pic.twitter.com/KcLuCigcg5

— Anna Fifield (@annafifield) June 6, 2016

What is interesting about this curfew is that servicemembers cannot purchase alcohol, go to any bars or hold a party off base.  That is even stricter than most curfews USFK has come up with over the years and this is in response to a horrible crime that US military servicemembers had nothing to do with:

A midnight curfew and other tightened liberty restrictions will take effect Friday for all servicemembers on Okinawa, III Marine Expeditionary Force said Thursday.

The new rules, which III MEF said will remain in effect through June 24, follow the arrest last week of a civilian U.S. base worker suspected in the death of a 20-year-old Okinawan woman. Others covered by the status of forces agreement – including civilian workers and families of servicemembers – are being asked to abide by the restrictions, too.

A III MEF statement said the intent of the measures is “to observe a period of unity and mourning by curtailing off-installation activities” in response to two recent criminal acts that SOFA-status personnel have been accused of committing.

The restrictions include:

• All ranks, including officers, must be on base by midnight.

• Alcohol may not be purchased or consumed off base.

• Patronizing off-base bars and clubs is prohibited.

• Parties may not be held off base.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

Flanked by police officers, the suspect behind the brutal murder of a 23-year-old woman enters a karaoke bar near a subway station in Seoul’s upscale Gangnam district on May 24, 2016, to stage a reconstruction. The 34-year-old man fatally knifed the victim in the bar’s bathroom a week ago in an alleged random crime, whipping up a nationwide outpouring of mourning. (Yonhap)