A man in his 40s accused of killing his girlfriend and hiding her body in a kimchi refrigerator for about a year appeared in court for a detention review.
A (41) arrived at the Gunsan branch of the Jeonju District Court at about 3:25 p.m. on the 30th to attend a pre-arrest suspect interrogation (warrant review) scheduled for 4 p.m.
When asked by reporters, "Why did you kill your girlfriend?" and "Why did you abandon the body?" A only said, "I am sorry," and entered the courthouse.
A decision on whether to detain A is expected as early as this evening.
A is suspected of suffocating his girlfriend B, in her 40s, to death at an apartment in Jochon-dong, Gunsan, on Oct. 20 last year, then hiding the body in a kimchi refrigerator. He then used B's mobile phone to exchange text messages with B's family to conceal the killing and even paid her monthly rent.
However, the family, finding it suspicious that they could not properly reach B by phone, filed a missing person report with police at around 12 p.m. the day before, prompting an investigation. When police called B, A told his live-in girlfriend to "pretend to be B and answer the phone," and when the live-in girlfriend found this suspicious and pressed him, A confessed to the crime.
Afterward, the live-in girlfriend informed an acquaintance of this, and that acquaintance reported A to police. Acting on the report, police urgently arrested A at his residence in Gunsan at about 7:20 p.m. the day before, then confirmed the body at an apartment in downtown Gunsan where B had lived.
Police found that A had no particular job and had been living by day trading stocks. During questioning, A reportedly said, "While arguing over stocks, I killed B and hid the body in the refrigerator."
To determine the exact cause of death, police sent B's body to the National Forensic Service for an autopsy.