Horrific murder of woman was police prevention failure

Korea has been gripped by the horrific and gruesome murder on April 1st of Ms. K, a 28 year old woman who was kidnapped, raped, and dismembered into 280 parts, despite having called the police giving accurate details as to her whereabouts. The police arrived at the crime scene 13 hours later, to find her dismembered body as well as the suspected murderer, a Chinese of Korean descent.

As the transcript of the police conversation was made available over the weekend, to the disbelief of everyone, the police are seen asking utterly incompetent questions while debating the seriousness of the crime. The recording also disclosed a series of lies told by the police force to cover up their incompetence. As new evidence emerges by the hour, it would seem that CCTV was available, despite the police saying the contrary. On the 9th April, the head of the Korea’s police force Cho Hyun-oh stepped down assuming responsibility.

The murder case, dubbed as the ‘Suwon Torso Murder Case’, has taken many Koreans aback, in no less part due to the atrocious nature of the incident, but as well as complete dismay towards the utter incompetency of the police handling of the crime. Netizens were quick to accuse the police of murder, while others called for the suspect to receive the death penalty. Furthermore, the incident has re-ignited the debate on multiculturalism policy, growing presence of migrant workers, and xenophobia.

The murder

The 112 emergency report centre could not prevent the kidnap and murder of a female victim in her twenties.

Poor handling by the police to the emergency report at 112 is under criticism, regarding the kidnap and murder of a 28 year old female victim by a Chinese-Korean in Suwon, Gyeonggi-do on the 1st of April. Public’s criticizing eye claims that the murder could have been prevented if the police rapidly asked the victim of the site of crime and took an appropriate action.

According to the voice recording from the 112 emergency centre, disclosed on the 5th of April by the Gyeonggi Metropolitan Police Agency, the victim (initialled K, 28 years old) had been talking to the police on the mobile phone for more than a minute. She locked up the room she was kidnapped in and called the police (at 112) for help while the criminal (Chinese-Korean Wu, 42 years old) was negligent in guarding her.

She dialed 112 at the emergency report centre at 10.50 pm 58 seconds, on the day of the crime and talked to the policeman at work for about a minute and a half.

She reported that she was sexually harassed by some man she didn’t know, and was taken to somewhere that she didn’t recognise, where she was dialling the police number with the door locked. She also quite accurately reported the situation and site of crime, describing that the house was between Ji-dong Primary school and Mot-gol playground.

Transcript of the recording:

Police: This is the police at 112.

Victim: Hello, I am in a house before Mot-gol playground and getting sexually harassed.

P: Mot-gol playground?

V: Yes, it’s somewhere in the direction of the playground but I can’t tell which house.

P: In Ji-dong?

V: Yes, it’s past the Ji-dong primary school, on the way towards Mot-gol playground.

P: I will try location-tracking with your mobile phone.

V: Ok.

P: So, you are getting sexually harassed now? It’s sexual violence you are getting?

V: Yes, yes.

P: You don’t recognize the detailed location?

V: It’s somewhere before reaching the Mot-gol playground, starting from the Ji-dong primary school…

P: From Ji-dong primary school…

V: …before reaching the Mot-gol playground.

P: Who, who is doing this to you?

V: Some guy, it’s some random guy. Please be quick, please.

P: Who is this, do you know him in any way?

V: It’s someone I don’t know.

P: What did you do to the door of the room you are in?

V: I’ve locked it just now.

P: Have you locked the door?

V: I have, while the guy was away for a while.

P: Will you let me know once again when you enter? [I honestly do not understand what and why he is talking about!]

V: (sound of the door being forced open) I beg you, please, I’m sorry…

P: Hello, can you tell me the address once again?

However, the policeman at the centre did not question her on the characteristics of the building which would help them quickly find where she was locked in, such as the structure of the house or how many floors there were. The policemen instead spent the time repeating his questions to her or asking “who is harassing you?” even though identifying the suspect was not the first thing to clarify before rescuing her.

The victim’s phone call ended following a sound of the door forced open and her voice begging the criminal for pardon. The house that the murder happened was on the ground floor of a multiplex housing, some 80 meters away from the gate of Ji-dong Primary school in the direction of Mot-gol playground, as she reported. Police sources said that it was difficult to locate the site of crime because it was surrounded by residential buildings and the primary school and the playground was one kilometer apart. They also claimed that location-tracking of a mobile phone does not identify where exactly the owner of the phone is, but only identifies the base station for the phone.

The victim was kidnapped and murdered by the suspect Wu on her way back home, merely because she hit her shoulder onto his while walking on the street.

Source: Koreabang