Kim Sung-woo, 26, who was arrested on suspicion of killing his mother-in-law in Seoul's Songpa District and abducting his wife before fleeing to Gangwon State, has been referred to the newly created Public Prosecution Office, which handles indictments only.
Songpa Police Station said on the 20th that it referred Kim that morning to the Seoul Eastern District Public Prosecution Office, a newly created body handling indictments only on charges including retaliatory murder and retaliatory confinement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, as well as aggravated assault and violations of the anti-stalking law. Leaving the police station, Kim remained silent in response to reporters' questions such as why he killed his mother-in-law and whether he had anything to say to the bereaved family.
Kim is accused of killing his mother-in-law, a woman in her 50s, in Munjeong-dong, Songpa District, Seoul, on the morning of the 11th of this month, then forcing his wife, a woman in her 20s, into a vehicle and taking her to Yangyang in Gangwon State. The mother-in-law was taken to a hospital in cardiac arrest but died. Police made an emergency arrest of Kim on a wooded hill in Yangyang County about seven hours after the crime and rescued his wife.
Kim registered his marriage to the woman, identified as A, in February and the couple began living separately in August. A filed for divorce mediation with the court in late August, then withdrew it and was pursuing a suit to annul the marriage, claiming it had been forced.
Police sought an arrest warrant for Kim, and the Seoul Eastern District Court issued it on the 14th of this month, citing the risk that he would flee and destroy evidence.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency convened a committee on the disclosure of personal information the previous afternoon and released Kim's name, age and mug shot.