SEOUL, An ex-convict accused of killing two women, one before and one after cutting off his location-tracking device, claimed to have committed the crimes for money, police said Tuesday.
Kang Yoon-seong killed them “to solve his financial problems,” and appeared to “have premeditated his crimes,” as he bought a murder weapon before he killed his first victim in his home on Aug. 26, the police said in a press briefing.
Early in the morning, Songpa Police Station referred the 56-year-old man to the Seoul Dongbu District Prosecutors Office on six charges, including murder, fraud and violation of the law on electronic monitoring devices.
The man with 14 previous criminal convictions walked into a police station in eastern Seoul on Aug. 29 and confessed to murdering the two women he had known. Two days later, he was formally arrested.
Kang said he killed his first victim because she refused to lent him money. After the murder, he stole her credit card to buy four mobile phones worth 5.96 million won (US$5,142) and resold them.
He killed the second woman, because, he said, she threatened to report him to police unless he pays her money back.
Police said the two women were not sexually assaulted by Kang. They also confirmed that he tried — and failed — to lure a third woman and said that they added preparation of murder to his charges.
Before he was being taken to the prosecution on Tuesday morning, he appeared in public for the first time since his identity was disclosed last week.
“I apologize to the victims and their families,” he said, looking subdued and with his head down.
Source: Yonhap News Agency