By Nam Hyun-woo
Police arrested a 30-year-old Internet user who murdered another netizen after trolling each other with political issues.
Haeundae Police Station in Busan said Wednesday it is investigating the suspect, surnamed Baek, who allegedly stabbed the victim, identified as Kim, multiple times in front of her apartment in Busan on July 10.
Baek and Kim had been arguing over political and ideological issues on a popular Internet forum, DC Inside, since 2010. The two had initially posted left-leaning messages, but Kim started to write conservative postings last year as Baek exposed her personal information on the internet without her consent.
In their online messages, Baek lauded former liberal President Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun and Kim refuted Baek’s arguments.
Since then, the two uploaded postings denouncing each other and became Internet personalities among the forum users. As the trolling became heated personal attacks, Kim wrote that she will file a complaint against Baek to the police. In response, Baek posted a written apology on the forum in September.
Police said Baek’s online tantrum subsided from then, but he planned for three months to kill her. Five hours after killing her, he allegedly posted several parody messages hinting that he killed Kim. Those messages have since been deleted.
Police arrested him Tuesday in a motel in the city, six days after the murder.
“Unlike other first-time killers, Baek did not get rid of the weapon and he confidently explained how he committed the crime without any sense of guilt,” said an officer at the police station.