Police are weighing whether to release the identity of a man in his 20s who has been detained on charges of killing his mother-in-law and abducting his wife in Seoul's Songpa District, as the funeral of the victim was held on the 14th. The bereaved family has called for the suspect's identity to be made public, citing the safety of surviving relatives and the need to prevent further harm, according to accounts of the case.
According to reporting by The Seoul Economic Daily on the 14th, the funeral for a woman in her 50s, identified as B, who was killed by a man in his 20s identified as A, was held that morning at a funeral hall in Songpa District, Seoul. The family has said that relatives had lived in fear of threats from A well before the killing. B's husband was unable to work for an extended period, and the family found it difficult to ask for help from those around them out of fear that A might harm them, according to the family's account.
Police are reviewing whether to disclose the identity of A, who faces charges including murder of a spouse's lineal ascendant (his mother-in-law) and aggravated unlawful confinement. The decision is expected to take into account the gravity of the crime and the wishes of the bereaved family.
Under the current law governing disclosure of the identities of suspects in specified serious crimes, identifying information may be released when the means of the crime were brutal and serious harm resulted, when there is sufficient evidence to believe the suspect committed the crime, and when disclosure serves the public interest, including the public's right to know, the prevention of repeat offenses and crime prevention.
The Seoul Eastern District Court issued an arrest warrant for A the previous day, saying there was a risk he would flee and destroy evidence. A appeared at a pre-detention hearing on the 13th and declined to answer reporters' questions about his motive and whether the crime was planned.
Police are also examining whether A planned the crime in advance and whether he acted out of a desire for retaliation against the victim's family. In questioning, A largely admitted to the charges but argued that the killing was not premeditated. Police plan to apply for an arrest warrant for A as early as late that afternoon.
A is accused of killing his mother-in-law, a woman in her 50s, in Seoul's Munjeong-dong in Songpa District on the morning of the 11th, then forcing his wife, a woman in her 20s, into a vehicle and driving her to Yangyang in Gangwon State. The mother-in-law was taken to a hospital in cardiac arrest but died. Police arrested A without a warrant on a wooded hillside in Yangyang County about seven hours after the crime and rescued his wife.
Police had been investigating a domestic violence case involving A and his wife before the killing. A's wife told police she had been assaulted by A, and police issued her a smartwatch for personal protection. A had been subject to temporary measures requiring him to leave the victim's residence and barring him from coming within 100 meters of her or contacting her by telecommunications.
Those temporary measures expired on the 30th of last month. Police, concerned about further harm, applied again for a restraining order on the 6th, but the crime occurred before the court ruled. A had refused police summonses and committed the crime two days before he was next scheduled to appear.
With this case and other relationship-based crimes escalating into violent offenses, police are launching a nationwide review. The National Office of Investigation at the Korean National Police Agency sent an official notice to metropolitan and provincial police agencies the previous day, instructing them to compile the number of stalking, dating violence and domestic violence cases under investigation, individuals classified as Grade A for monitoring, and cases in which safety measures such as smartwatches are in place. Stalking reports closed in the field since May, after the first-half review concluded, are also included. The review itself will run from the 19th to the 30th of this month.