A man in his 20s who killed his mother-in-law in Seoul's Songpa District and then fled with his wife in a car has been placed under arrest.
Suh Beom-jun, the warrant judge at the Seoul Eastern District Court, issued an arrest warrant on the 13th for the man, identified only as A, after questioning him on charges of murdering a lineal ascendant and aggravated confinement. The court said there was "a risk of flight and a risk of destruction of evidence."
A arrived at the court at about 2:06 p.m. that day wearing a hat and a mask. He did not respond to reporters' questions, including why he had killed his mother-in-law, whether he had planned the crime in advance and whether he had used a private investigation agency to follow his wife. After the hearing ended at about 3:07 p.m., he boarded a police transport vehicle without saying anything.
A is accused of stabbing his mother-in-law, a woman in her 50s, to death in Munjeong-dong in Seoul's Songpa District on the 11th and then driving his wife, who is in her 20s, to Yangyang in Gangwon State. The mother-in-law was taken to a hospital but died, and A was arrested without a warrant at about 12:35 p.m. the same day on a wooded hill in Yangyang County.
In police questioning, A has largely admitted to the allegations but has argued that the killing was not premeditated and occurred on the spur of the moment. He is reported to have told police that he was driven by anger after his wife, with whom he was in divorce proceedings, moved to file a suit seeking to void the marriage on the grounds that she had been coerced into it.
Police are examining the possibility that the crime was planned, based on the fact that A routinely carried a knife and on statements from his wife. His wife is reported to have told police that while they were traveling in the car, A said he had prepared the crime in advance.
Police plan to further question A, now in custody, on his exact motive and on whether the crime was planned ahead of time.