Torso triggers rumors about illegal organ trade

A woman walks past a sealed-off area where a torso believed to belong to a woman with blood type A was found on Dec. 4 on Mount Paldal in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. / Yonhap

By Lee Kyung-min

A torso found in Mount Paldal in Suwon last week is spurring rumors and speculation about the motives behind the killing.

One that is widely-circulating is that the remains were abandoned by a criminal ring specializing in the illegal trade of human organs.

The rumor comes from an initial police finding that most of the blood was drained and organs were missing from the torso.

Although police have dismissed such a rumor as being groundless, people are sharing unconfirmed text messages and e-mails detailing the “modus operandi” of organ traders.

According to one such message being shared via social networking sites, a 26-year-old man surnamed Kim alleged that the torso was the evidence of such trade. He said the message was from his friend who is a police officer.

“Usually young healthy Korean men and women are targeted. After being kidnapped, while they are temporarily passed out, alive, their organs are taken out and stored in an ice box,” the message read.

“Then those organs are sent to foreign countries, usually to South East Asia, countries with high demand. An organ could be sold for at least 100 million won ($90,000).”

The message even alleged that an increase of such crime is attributed to the increasing number of immigrants and foreigners in Korea.

“Some immigrants and illegal aliens are known to be engaged in the illegal trade of human organs because they are under severe financial pressure to make ends meet,” it read.

Since a hiker called the police on Dec 4 after discovering the torso in a black plastic bag, some 440 police officers and cadaver dogs have been mobilized to search for the missing body parts.

Forensic scientists only confirmed that the torso belonged to a woman with blood type A.

The torso was found only one kilometer away from where a horrific homicide case took place in April 2012.

Oh Won-choon, a Korean Chinese, kidnapped and killed a 23-year-old woman, and sliced the body into more than 300 pieces. The method of killing sparked speculation at the time that Oh was a member of an organ trade ring, but police later denied this.

The Supreme Court sentenced Oh to life in prison last year.

According to a criminology professor, Lee Sue-jung at Gyeonggi University, the police investigation should be open to the possibilities of serial killing or the manufacturing of capsules filled with powdered human flesh.