By Kim Rahn
A man thought to be suffering from a mental illness stabbed a woman to death Monday during an apparently random attack in Chilgok, North Gyeongsang Province.
The 34-year-old suspect, surnamed Yoon, attacked a 21-year-old Shin with a knife in an underpass near Waegwan Market at 12:10 p.m. Shin was transferred to a hospital but died on arrival.
The underpass was almost deserted.
A witness said Yoon wanted himself to be reported to police. “A witness said that Yoon saw him and dropped the knife, telling him to report him to the police,” an officer said.
Policemen arrived at the scene five minutes later and apprehended Yoon, who didn’t run away and surrendered himself without a fight.
Police found that Yoon has a history of mental instability. An officer added, “He ran away from home last Friday and wandered about in the Waegwan region.”
They plan to ask doctors to conduct a psychiatric examination of Yoon.
When the crime took place, Shin was on her way home after seeing off her sister at the train station.
The killing was the second “random attack” by people with a history of mental health issues in the last three days.
Last Friday, an 18-year-old high school dropout broke into an elementary school classroom in southern Seoul at around 11:50 a.m. and brandished a shovel and an imitation gun, injuring six children.
One of the children had to have stitches in his chin, while another boy suffered a fractured arm.
The offender, surnamed Kim, had a note in his pocket which read: “Even though I try hard to succeed, there’s something that I can’t change forever. I’m doing this although I know I shouldn’t, so I’m not going to apologize.”
A police officer said, “The note also said, ‘Please don’t hold a funeral for me.’ We presume he planned to commit suicide after the crime.”
Kim said he first planned to attack the National Assembly but abandoned the plan because he thought the Assembly might be tightly guarded.
He received treatment at a psychiatric hospital for about two weeks last year. He has since visited the hospital once a month to be treated for depression, according to police.
The nation is seeing a growing number of crimes committed by people with mental health problems.
Rep. Shin Hak-yong of the Democratic United Party highlighted statistics in a National Police Agency report Tuesday which showed repeat crimes are more likely to be committed by people with a history of mental illness.
According to the report, a total of 14,951 people with mental health problems committed crimes between 2002 and last year, with the annual number of such criminals tripling from 739 in 2002 to 2,120 last year.
“Those with mental problems have more chance of repeating their crimes than those without. In 2010, 32.1 percent of mentally ill criminals were recidivists. We need to have a better system to look after people with mental illnesses, especially first offenders who may repeat crimes,” the lawmaker said.