Suspect in killing of women and elderly arrested

SOUTH Korean police have arrested a 34-year-old man suspected of killing at least 19 people in what could be the country's biggest case of serial murder.

Seoul police chief Huh Joon-young told reporters initial investigations had implicated the suspect in 15 cases of murder committed in less than a year. The victims were mainly women, but also included elderly people from rich districts of the capital.

He said the suspect, Yoo Young-chul, had confessed to the crime spree, which had apparently been motivated by a hatred for women and the rich.

“Yoo felt hatred toward women after getting divorced and also believed poverty was the reason for his difficulties,” Huh said.

YTN Television showed a handcuffed Yoo, wearing a yellow raincoat, with his face shielded by a baseball cap and a blue mask, nodding when reporters asked him if he had killed the victims.

South Korea has a relatively low crime rate. Five women died in the last known serial murder case in April, 2002, the Yonhap news agency said.

Yoo, released from prison last September after serving time for robbery and rape, is suspected of killing an elderly college professor and his wife in an affluent Seoul district in the same month, the police statement said.

The suspect is believed to have then shifted focus to target women working as masseuses, who usually offer sex services in South Korea, after his girlfriend turned down a marriage proposal early this year.

Police first arrested Yoo early on Thursday. But Yoo, who suffers from epilepsy, broke free and escaped when police unlocked his handcuffs, fearing he was about to have a seizure. He was re-arrested on Friday.

Investigators have unearthed the bodies of 11 women buried in shallow graves near a temple in northern Seoul, close to the studio flat Yoo rented.