A South Korean serial killer who murdered 10 women
including his wife and mother-in-law has been sentenced to death, news
reports say.
Kang Ho-Sun met most of his victims in karaoke bars
or picked them up from isolated bus stops, according to police
investigators who described him as a typical psychopath who feels no
remorse.
The 38-year-old was sentenced by a court in Ansan
south-west of Seoul on Wednesday after being convicted of murder, rape
and arson, Yonhap news agency and other news media said.
Court officials could not immediately be reached.
Hanging remains on the country's statute books
despite an informal moratorium on its use since 1997.
Kang was arrested in January and admitted kidnapping
and murdering eight women since 2006.
The court also found him guilty of killing his wife
and mother-in-law in an arson attack so he could cash in their life
insurance policies, a charge he had denied.
The blaze broke out a week after Kang bought several
insurance policies for his wife. He escaped the deadly fire at his home
and received 480 million won ($505,000) from insurers.
Kang claims the fire was accidental.
Last week a separate civil court at Ansan ordered
Kang to pay damages totalling 1.3 billion won ($1.37 million) to the
families of his victims after they filed a lawsuit.
By Bae Hyun-jung - Daum.net
February 2, 2009
The police are expanding their investigation into the
serial killer who confessed to killing seven women to uncover possible
additional crimes during the blank period between his murders, officials
said yesterday.
"Though the suspect said that he led an ordinary life
in between the admitted murders, we plan to go through the similar
unsolved cases that were committed during the period to verify his
involvement," said a police official in a recent briefing.
The Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency, with the
cooperation of the National Police Agency, will trace the life of Kang
Ho-soon, who was recently arrested for murdering a female university
student in Gunpo, according to officials.
Kang admitted, in addition to the murder of the 21-year-old
student who was found dead last Sunday, the killing of six more women in
the past.
As Kang said, during the police investigation, that
he often felt impulses to murder women, the police suspect him of
committing other impulsive murders.
As the Gyeonggi Province performed a major roundup
campaign when five women went missing from December 2006 to January
2007, the police assume that Kang took precautions in the region during
the period.
The further reinforced police research, aroused by
the disappearance of the two missing children in the nearby Anyang
region, made it even harder for him to risk committing additional crimes,
according to police officials.
"After my fifth murder on Jan. 7, 2007, I was afraid
of getting caught, with all the attention from the police and the
media," said Kang. "This is why I lived quietly for some time, working
ordinarily in a farm."
During the 22 months before his Gunpo murder last
November, Kang received 480 million won ($ 347,826) from the insurance
of his fourth wife, who died in a fire in October 2005 and bought
himself an expensive car in a secondhand store.
The police also suspect Kang may be responsible for
this fire, which killed not only his then-wife but also his mother-in-law.
He had registered his marriage and signed up for life insurance policies
just days prior to the accident.
He also took 180 million won for car fire, which is
suspected of being intentional.
Recently, further public attention has been drawn to
the case as some of the local newspapers published Kang`s photo and
personal information, despite the policies of the investigation
headquarters.
"We, too, want to disclose the suspect`s face to the
public," said investigation head Lee Myung-gyun last Saturday, soon
after two of the newspapers made Kang`s photo public. "However, the
official message from the National Human Rights Commission prevents us
from doing so."
The principles of protecting the suspect`s personal
information were reinforced in 2004, with a scandalous rape case by
middle school students. The police, while investigating the case, put
caps and masks on these underage suspects.
In the following year, the NHRC officially
recommended the police to improve the criminal convoy processes, pushing
the agency to forbid the disclosure of the suspect`s face.
Though humanitarian issues remain controversial, the
majority of the citizens agree that the aggressor should come public in
such notorious cases.
"I was shocked to see such a calm and smiling face on
a notorious murder," said Lee Jeong-seon, a female university student.
"I would not have suspected him either, had I been the murdered girl."
Many say that the publication of Kang`s photo will
help prevent future crimes.
