A drunken police officer, using carbines and hand grenades, killed between 53 and 79 villagers in an eight-hour rampage before taking his own life early today.

The South Korean national police gave an official death toll of 53, including 20 men and 33 women, but most afternoon newspapers reported 62 dead. And the newspaper Kyunghyang Shinmun, published near the scene of the shooting in a remote southern area, said there were 79 dead.

Seoul, April 27. - A drunken policeman killed at least 55 people after quarrelling with his mistress and then ended his eight-hour rampage by blowing himself to pieces with hand grenades, authorities said today.

His mistress, who was among the 37 people reported to have been wounded, said the quarrel erupted when she woke her lover while trying to brush a fly off his chest. The policeman, Woo Bom Kon, aged 27, then roamed the surrounding countryside, firing rifles and throwing hand grenades at villagers before killing himself in a remote farmhouse at dawn. The events in the Kyongsang Namdo, 200 miles south of Seoul, prompted Mr Suh Chung Hwa, South Korea's Interior Minister, and the national police chief to offer their resignations although they did not actually quit their post.

The mistress, Chun Mal Sun, aged 25, said "I went out and found Woo on the rampage, firing from two rifles. One of the bullets hit me". She had earlier been listed among those killed. Police said Mr Woo stole two rifles from the police station and later broke into a reserve army depot to take six hand grenades. They said Mr Woo, a former marine, fired wildly at anything that moved. By dawn, police and troops finally tracked him to a farmhouse. There he set off two grenades which killed three members of the farmer's family as well as himself.

In Seoul, a special Cabinet committee, chaired by Mr Yoo Chang Soon, the Prime Minister, was formed to investigate the killings. Four policemen at Mr Woo's station were ordered to be arrested for neglect of duty.

Woo Bum Kon, a 27-year-old police officer, opened fire with rifles and threw grenades in a rampage beginning Monday night that killed 58 persons.

Officials said Woo had had a bitter argument with his 25-year-old wife Monday night, began drinking heavily and then went to a military armory, where he took two carbines, 180 rounds of ammunition and seven hand grenades. Then, authorities said, he set out on a course of killing that took him on foot into five small villages in Uiryong County, about 200 miles south of Seoul. During the carnage his wife was reported seriously wounded. Woo apparently blew himself up with a grenade.

Authorities said Woo's first victim was a pedestrian, shot in the street. Then the police officer burst into a post office, where four persons were killed, they said, and went on to a marketplace, hurling grenades and firing the carbines. The body of the police officer was found early yesterday in an isolated farmhouse about 2 1/2 miles from his police station. Alongside him were the bodies of three members of the farm family, the last victims. Authorities said he had exploded two grenades there. Only four rounds of ammunition and one grenade were found unexpended.

Some of his victims died in their homes or shops, others were killed when they ran into the streets alarmed by the sound of shooting and explosions. "The patrolman came to my house leading a student," Shin We Do, a 52-year- old shopkeeper, told reporters. "He asked for a soft drink. I gave him one. He had only one gulp and fired a shot at the student, killing the boy there. "Then he fired shots at my wife and two of my children. They all died on the spot. Running out of the house, I was shot at and hit in the legs."

A 45-year-old farmer, Chun Yong Sup, said he was at the home of a friend when he heard shooting. "When I came out of the house, I saw the policeman, drunk and jumping around like a madman, firing," he said. "I was so frightened and could not get to my house. I fled into a nearby paddy until all became quiet near dawn, then returned home."

When word of the slayings reached Seoul, Home Minister Suh Chung Hwa flew to the scene in a police plane, and later offered his resignation to assume responsibility for the action.

Seoul is stunned by policeman's slaying of 56

SEOUL, South Korea, April 27 - For eight hours beginning last night, a drunken South Korean policeman stormed through a southern farm community killing at least 56 people and wounding 37 others, and a stunned national Government sought today to find out why no one could stop him.

A five-member Cabinet committee headed by Prime Minister Yoo Chang Soon was formed to deal with the incident, and it sent an investigative team of 15 prosecutors and police officials to the scene, in the southern country of Uiryong. South Korea's Home Minister, Suh Chung Hwa, and the national police chief, Ahn Ung Mo, offered to resign and assume responsibility for what was viewed as a deplorable breakdown of the security system's ability to react quickly to any threat to peace, such as a guerrilla attack from the north.

The provincial police chief was suspended, and four other policeman were arrested. They were charged with neglect of duty, apparently for having failed to prevent the assailant, Woo Bom Kon, from taking two carbines and 180 rounds of ammunition from the police armory and seven grenades from an army post. Mr. Woo killed himself with two of the grenades.

The policeman, who was 26 years old, was said to have fired 170 of the 180 rounds of ammunition during his rampage, which began at 9:30 P.M. It apparently was set off by rage at the way he was awakened from a nap he was taking before going to work; the woman he lived with, 25-year-old Chun Mai Sun, swatted a fly that had landed on his chest. After reporting for duty at 4 P.M., the policeman, a former marine sergeant, was said to have done some heavy drinking at the local police station.

At about 7.30 P.M., a according to Miss Chun, he came home drunk, punched her, making her nose bleed, and then went off into the dark. While police colleagues were at a community meeting, Mr. Woo helped himself to the arms and began roaming through the country.

Many Flee Into Ricefields

About two hours later, he opened fire on passers-by in a marketplace in the village of Torongni, hitting Miss Chun, who had gone to find him. Next, he entered a post office in the nearby village of Kungryu, where he killed three telephone operators and cut off the community from the outside world.

Mr. Woo, who was in his police uniform, went from village to village, heading for lighted windows, knocking on doors and shooting or throwing grenades. Many people fled into ricefields, but others were trapped, not expecting trouble from a uniformed policeman as they opened their doors. At one point, he ordered a 16-year-old schoolboy at gunpoint to get him a soft drink from a grocery store. After drinking it, he killed the boy and members of his family. Then he headed off into the night once more. The police said he had killed 18 people in the village of Ungye, and 24 in the village of Pyongchon.

The police were unable to catch up with Mr. Woo as he kept constantly on the move for hours under cover of darkness. Trapped finally in a farmhouse, he held two grenades to his body and detonated them, killing himself and the family that lived there. Miss Chun, who reportedly was not severely wounded, said Mr. Woo had suffered from an inferiority complex and had been disturbed by villagers comments about their living together without being married. She described him as having been "a little eccentric."

News Dominates Front Page

News of the killings dominated front pages of the South Korean press, obliterating stories of the departure from Seoul today of Vice President Bush. Mr Bush had been here for a three-day visit to assure South Korea of American support at celebrations of a centenary of United States-Korean ties.

There were expressions of shock and outrage from South Korean leaders, and President Chun Doo Hwan sent his staff chief, Lee Bum Suk, to Uiryong.

Woo "Power" Bum-Kon