A man in his 20s has been arrested on charges of fatally stabbing the mother of his estranged wife and abducting the wife before fleeing, police said. The woman had been under police protection because of repeated domestic violence by her husband, but the measures failed to prevent the attack. The suspect is reported to have survived after jumping off a cliff in an apparent suicide attempt while on the run.
Seoul's Songpa Police Station said on the 11th that it had made an emergency arrest of a 26-year-old man surnamed Kim, who was serving in a public service post as an alternative to military duty, on charges including murder. According to police, Kim is accused of stabbing his mother-in-law, a woman in her 50s surnamed A, in the neck near her home in Munjeong-dong, Songpa District, Seoul, at about 5:40 a.m. that day, and then forcing his 23-year-old wife, surnamed Choi, into a vehicle and driving away. Kim, a resident of Suwon, had been living apart from his wife and was going through divorce proceedings.
Police responded after a resident called to report that a man was trying to drag a woman away and that another woman was lying on the ground. A, who was found in cardiac arrest, was taken to a hospital but died.
Working with the Gangwon State Police Agency, officers rescued Choi at about 10:30 a.m. from a vehicle left on a wooded hill in Yangyang County, Gangwon State. Kim jumped from a nearby cliff in an apparent suicide attempt but was not seriously injured because the slope was gentle, according to police. Officers made an emergency arrest of Kim at about 12:35 p.m.
The attack occurred even though police had classified the woman as being at high risk of domestic violence and had put protective measures in place. Kim had previously subjected his wife to repeated domestic violence, prompting a court to impose temporary measures including eviction from the residence and a ban on coming within 100 meters of her. Those measures were in effect from Aug. 22 to Sept. 30.
On Sept. 1, police gave Choi a smartwatch for emergency calls, and on Sept. 30 they designated the household as an "A-grade" case, the top tier for risk of repeated domestic violence. The mother-in-law who was killed, however, was not included as a separate subject of protection. Choi's smartwatch was turned off at the time of the attack, police confirmed. Police said they would investigate why the smartwatch was not working, as well as the motive for the crime.