Man caught for killing wife, 2 daughters

Officers move a body wrapped in white fabric from an apartment in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul, Tuesday. The apartment’s owner, surnamed Kang, was apprehended hours after he allegedly killed his wife and two daughters. / Yonhap

By Kim Rahn

Police on Tuesday apprehended a man who fled his home after allegedly killing his wife and two daughters in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul.

The man, identified by his surname Kang, 48, was caught in Mungyeong, North Gyeongsang Province, at around 12:20 p.m.

The arrest came about six hours after he had first called the police to say he had murdered his family members at his house.

“We are investigating why and how he killed them,” an official at the Seocho Police Station said. “We presume that he killed the family members out of financial difficulty then attempted to kill himself.”

According to authorities, he called the police on his own mobile phone at 6:28 a.m. Kang said he had killed his wife and daughters and asked police officers to find the bodies at his home, adding that he would commit suicide soon.

Following the report, officers went to his apartment and found the bodies of the wife, aged 48, and two daughters, 14 and eight.

Police confirmed that he made the call in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, where they pursued him, and later moved to Sangju and then Mungyeong in his car.

“It seems the victims were strangled to death. We have asked the National Forensic Service to perform an autopsy on the bodies,” the Seocho Police official said.

Police also found two sheets of memo that were probably written by Kang. The memo read: “I’m sorry to my wife and children. I will die as well.”

“The memo also said something about financial difficulty. Kang quit his position with a foreign company three years ago, and his parents have often offered him money for living expenses since then; his wife was also jobless,” the official said.

Kang purchased his apartment in 2004, but later borrowed about 500 million won from banks using his house as security, he added.