Jeong Nam-gyu, a serial killer who was in prison, committed suicide in his cell, Sunday.
/ Korea Times |
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter
Jeong Nam-gyu, 40, a serial killer imprisoned while awaiting execution, committed suicide in his cell Sunday.
The convicted murderer killed himself Saturday morning in his cell at the Seoul Detention House in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, south of Seoul.
According to the Ministry of Justice, the inmate on death row hung himself with a noose made from a plastic bag. Upon being discovered by a guard, Chung was rushed to hospital, but he died Sunday morning.
He did not leave a note, but officials found a memo in his private notebook. It said, "The government is not considering abolishing capital punishment. Life is like a cloud, coming and going transiently."
The Ministry of Justice said Jeong might have been aware that the death penalty was becoming a social issue and uncertainties regarding his execution may have driven him to take his own life.
Doctors concluded that he died from brain damage caused by hypoxia, but the ministry still requested an autopsy by the National Institute of Scientific Investigation to confirm the cause of death.
Jeong was sentenced to death for the murder of 13 people, including two minors, and for inflicting serious injuries upon them while sexually assaulting them, during a period from January 2004 to April 2006. He was convicted in 2007 and sentenced to death.
Many of the victims were women and children living in southwestern Seoul. Jeong said, during police questioning, that he had targeted the humble residential areas because closed-circuit televisions were installed in places where the wealthy live.
He was one of nearly 60 condemned criminals in local correctional facilities. Since its foundation in 1948, South Korea has executed a total of 920 people, according to a Justice Ministry. The last execution was carried out in December 1997, when 23 people were put to death.
Amnesty International listed Korea as one of the "death penalty-free states" in 2007 as it had not executed anyone for 10 years.
Jeong's suicide has stirred up criticism over the poor management of death-row inmates.
Plastic bags, which the serial murderer used to hang himself, are distributed in every cell. Jeong's cell was not equipped with CCTV and the prison has not been able to determine when Jeong hung himself exactly.
According to the Justice Ministry, 82 convicted criminals have committed suicide in prison since 2004. Most suicides took place in isolated cells and one third of the criminals had been convicted of murder.
The Legal Research and Training Institute said that more than 30 prisoners out of 100,000 commit suicide in Korea, according to data from 2006, which is the highest rate among member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Lax security has been blamed for allowing inmates to sneak in banned items. From 2004 to 2008, 836 convicts were found to have brought in prohibited objects such as cash, cellular phones and cigarettes.
meeyoo@koreatimes.co.kr
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