Serial Killer

It's Time to Focus More on Crime Prevention

``Appearances are often deceiving.'' This saying can be used no better to describe a serial killer suspected of murdering seven women. Many of his neighbors and co-workers said he was kind and faithful. He was also good-looking and affable. His smiling face, appearing in some newspapers, is enough to belie the brutal nature of his crime. The suspect was apparently dexterous in hiding his true identity behind his docile appearance.

Kang Ho-soon, 38, was arrested Jan. 25 on suspicion of kidnapping and murdering a female university student and a housewife in locations south of Seoul. Last Friday, he confessed to killing five other women who went missing between December 2006 and November 2008. His alleged murder spree has sent shockwaves throughout the nation. People are aghast at his heinous criminal acts. How could such a nice-looking man be a serial killer?

Investigators, crime experts and the public are wondering what motivated Kang to go on a killing spree. Police quoted him as saying that he felt the urge to kill women after his fourth wife died in a fire along with her mother in 2005. His first homicide allegedly took place Dec. 13, 2006, when he strangled a 45-year-old karaoke bar employee to death after the two had sex in Hwaseong, southwestern Gyeonggi Province. He killed four other women by Jan. 7, 2007.

Twenty-two months later, Kang reportedly killed a 48-year housewife in Suwon on Nov. 19, 2008 and a 20-year-old student in Gunpo a month later. It is presumed that Kang might have developed hostility toward women after three divorces, but it's difficult to accept his claim that the death of his last wife drove him to murder. Rather, the suspect might try to avoid allegations that he committed arson to gain insurance money. In fact, he collected 480 million won in insurance payment for the death of his wife. He was found to have registered the marriage just five days before the blaze broke out.

Criminal psychologists point out that Kang might be a typical psychopath, lacking feelings of compunction and guilt. In previous serial murders, perpetrators targeted innocent women indiscriminately without hostility toward the victims. Kang's spree started after Chung Nam-kyu, 40, was arrested in 2006 for killing 13 women. In 2004, Yoo Young-chul, 39, was arrested for murdering as many as 20 women. Some scholars attribute such serial murders to sociopathy, the number of incidences of which has increased.

A fundamental solution would be to change the social environment to maintain sound mental health, while law enforcement authorities are also required to focus more on crime prevention. Investigators have faced criticism for failing to take appropriate and timely action in cracking down such grave crimes, allowing them to continue. A series of kidnappings and murders have continued to take place in the southwestern regions of Gyeonggi Province, but police have failed to win the war on crime due to a lack of manpower and equipment. They must take bolder measures to protect innocent people before it's too late.