Murderer of housewife lived alone, having no friend

By Kim Jong-chan

“Do you buy sex?” asked an official at an ex-convict surveillance office in Seoul, when he met a man who, despite wearing an electronic tracing anklet, allegedly killed a woman he was attempting to rape.

In reply, the man, who lived alone, complained that he could not meet any one since he wears an electronic tracing anklet. “It’s crazy…” He was previously convicted for raping women three times.

The 42-year-old, surnamed Seo, was arrested Monday on charges of attempted rape and murder. He was released from prison in November last year, after serving a seven-and-a-half-year sentence for raping a woman in her 20s in Seoul in April 2004.

According to police, Seo sneaked into the woman’s house in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, and attempted to attack her. When the housewife, 37, resisted, he stabbed her to death in the neck, said a spokesman at Gwangjin Police Station.

The official, Kim Sang-sul, said Seo told him last month that he visited an electronic alliances complex in Yongsan, Seoul, to buy a secondhand PC. “At that time, I thought that he needed a PC to watch pornography as a way of fulfilling his sexual needs.”

Kim, who had conducted surveillance of the ex-convict for the past several months, said Seo had no friends. After returning home from work in the evening, he spent his time surfing the Internet alone in a room he rented.

The official said Seo often made efforts to control his sexual desire. However, he failed to control himself that day after watching porn videos for three hours and drinking a bottle of soju (Korean liquor), he said.

Seo broke into the house after the woman went out to see her two children off to kindergarten, with the door of her home unlocked. After entering the house, he waited for her to return.

According to Kim, Seo has father in his 80s and nine brothers and sisters. But all of them became estranged from him after he was convicted for raping a woman 20 years ago when he served in the military.

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