By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
Serial killer Kang Ho-soon, who has confessed to murdering seven women and burying their bodies between Dec. 13, 2006 and Dec. 19, 2008, seemingly botched an attempt to kill another.
Following 10 days of police questioning, he admitted attempting another murder after killing his seventh victim, and was referred to the prosecution Tuesday for further investigation.
Police have exhumed every body except that of an ethnic Korean-Chinese victim because the burial site had been turned into a golf course and Kang could not pinpoint its location.
On Dec. 31 he met a 47-year-old woman through a newspaper ad, and after drinking with a group of nine people, Kang and the woman moved to Siheung, Gyeonggi Province to drink more. He asked her to have sex with him but she refused, and so he kept her in his car for six hours, until dawn.
``He did not kill her because he feared capture, as other drinkers had seen his face and her phone records would link him to her,'' a police officer at Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency said.
Police suspect that Kang may have attempted other failed crimes, and have expanded their investigation, after finding a pair of women's underwear and 70 pairs of stockings at his house in Ansan.
They will also reinvestigate the circumstances of a fire that killed his fourth wife and mother-in-law in 2005, to see if he committed arson to murder them for their life insurance.
Kang, a 38-year-old father, has strongly denied the allegation, but police think this is because he is trying to keep the insurance payment for his two sons.
Profilers said Kang has been categorized as a typical psychopath according to the Psychopathic Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). ``Kang is poor at expressing his feelings and seems not to know at all how to express sorrow. As for questions about the families of the victims, he wondered if he was supposed to feel sad,'' said a criminologist.
She said Kang is a master of ``show,'' pretending to express remorse for the crimes when reenacting the murders, but making jokes after he was returned to the police station.
Police said surveillance cameras installed around roads near the crime scenes played a decisive role in catching Kang, and they will install more CCTVs in the region and post more patrols there.
Officers noted that he was concerned about his sons being labeled ``sons of a serial murderer,'' seemingly being shocked after learning that his picture had appeared in the media.
Kang has told them that he will write a book about the crimes so that his sons could receive royalties from sales.
rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr
