You Deserve to Die Yells Angry Resident

Reconstruction of Kim Kil-tae’s Crime

By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter

A crowd of citizens in Sasang, a residential district in Busan, were indignant as a police vehicle carrying Kim Kil-tae, the prime suspect in the rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl, came into sight at around 10 a.m., Tuesday.

The uproar reached a boiling point when the 33-year-old suspect stepped out of the car and made his way toward one of the crime scenes, escorted by heavily-armed detectives, for an on-site reenactment.

The on-site investigation, which continued for four hours at six spots related with the crimes, was held one day after he confessed that he strangled the victim, identified as Lee, to death at an abandoned house just hours after he kidnapped her on Feb. 24.

Many citizens yelled or cursed at him. Some attempted to cross the police line, posing a physical threat to Kim. But no major clashes between angered citizens and escorting officers took place, police said.

"You deserve to die," a citizen yelled when Kim in black shirt and pants, and whose hands were tightly roped and handcuffed, passed by the crowd.

"How could you kill the pretty young girl. ... I cannot live in this town with my little children any longer because of you," a women shouted.

When he reappeared before the public to move to another location a citizen shouted, "Hey! Look at me. Let me see the face of the most disgusting criminal I have ever known."

Keeping his eyes on the ground, Kim quickly moved to the next site, escorted by officers. During the reenactment at the victim's home, an officer asked Kim whether he remembered entering the house through its window on Feb. 24 to kidnap her and Kim briefly answered, "I have no idea."

The alley leading to an abandoned house just meters away from the water tank in which the victim was found dead was packed with dozens of citizens, police officers and news reporters.

"Following the crime, nobody travels along the road after sunset," a woman said. "This district has been known as a crime-prone district because of the dozens of abandoned houses."

The number of empty buildings has fast increased in recent months after Busan city added the district to the beneficiaries of its rural redevelopment plan. The houses were used as shelters by juvenile delinquents, runaway teenagers and criminals at large, residents said.

Following this tragedy, the city government said it will demolish the abandoned houses there as quickly as possible.

Police are intensifying their investigations to try and forward the case to the prosecution by the end of this week.

To meet the deadline, police have put the suspect under intense, marathon questioning since he was caught. So far, the interrogations have focused on confirming whether he had mapped out a plan to commit the crime.

The suspect insists he killed the girl under the influence of alcohol, thus the crime was not premeditated, while police don't agree with this idea. If the murder was found to be premeditated and Kim committed the crime, Kim can be sentenced to death. If it was not, his maximum sentence would be to life imprisonment.

A newly emerged allegation against Kim was that he attempted to rape a primary school girl last December. Receiving intelligence regarding the new case, police have widened their investigation.

Meanwhile, an unidentified citizen recently promised to cover all legal fees for litigation involving Kim, according to a lawyers' association based in Busan.

A spokesman for the association said, "The citizen promised the donation as a gesture of his apology for not giving a warm heart to those who grew up with little family and social attention like Kim."

pss@koreatimes.co.kr

김길태 태연하게 범행 재연

16일 부산 사상구 덕포동 일대에서 진행된 부산 여중생 이모(13) 양 납치살해 피의자 김길태(33)의 범행에 대한 현장검증에서 시민들은 분노를 터뜨렸다.

이날 오전 10시 경찰의 삼엄한 감시하에 부산 사상경찰서 유치장에서 나온 김은 무덤덤한 표정으로 호송차에 올라탔다.

수갑을 차고, 포승줄로 묶인 채 이 양의 집에 도착한 김은 범행과정을 태연하게 재연해 경찰과 취재진은 물론 근처 옥상 등에서 이를 지켜본 주민 100여명이 혀를 내둘렀다.

잠시 눈을 감았다 떤 김은 이 양이 살던 다가구 주택의 다른 빈집에 들른 적이 있느냐는 질문에 처음에는 "아니오"라고 말했다가 경찰이 "이 집 말이야"라고 다그치자 무표정한 얼굴로 "갈 데가 없어서 왔었다"고 답했다.

김은 또 경찰이 이 양의 집을 가리키며 '아느냐'고 묻자 "모른다"고 했고, 이 양의 집 다락방 창문을 통해 들어갔느냐는 질문에도 "모른다"고 답한 뒤 집 안으로 들어갔다.

이날 현장검증은 이 양의 집에서 시작돼 성폭행 및 살해현장으로 지목된 무당집(무속인이 살던 폐가), 이 양의 시신을 옮겼던 빈집, 시신을 유기한 물탱크 주변, 범죄의 근거지가 됐던 김의 옥탑방, 검거장소 등 6곳에서 4시간여 동안 진행됐다.

이 양의 한 이웃은 ``김의 범행 후 해가 진 뒤에는 아무도 다니지 않는다''면서 ``사람이 안 사는 집이 많아 이 지역은 우범지역으로 알려져 있다''고 말했다.