Police will decide whether to publicly identify a man in his 20s who has been arrested on charges of killing his mother-in-law in Seoul's Songpa district and abducting his wife.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said on the 15th that it plans to convene a review panel on the disclosure of personal information early next week for the suspect, identified only as A, who was arrested on charges including murder of a lineal ascendant of his spouse and aggravated confinement. The panel is expected to decide on disclosure after weighing the severity of the crime and the wishes of the bereaved family.
Under the current law on disclosing the identities of suspects in specific serious crimes, personal information may be released when the method of the crime was brutal and caused serious harm, 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 deterrence.
A 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, 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 on an emergency warrant on a wooded hill in Yangyang County about seven hours after the crime and rescued his wife.
Police sought a detention warrant for A, and the Seoul Eastern District Court issued it on the 14th, citing "concerns that he may flee and destroy evidence." A appeared at a pre-detention hearing on the 13th but did not respond to reporters' questions about his motive or whether the crime was premeditated.