Prosecutors on the 1st indicted and detained the owner of a pizza franchise store on murder charges in connection with the "Gwanak-gu stabbing incident."
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office Criminal Division 3 (Director General Choi Jae-man) said it indicted and detained on this day a franchisee, a person surnamed Kim (41), on charges of stabbing to death with a weapon one executive at the franchise headquarters who was in charge of signing franchise contracts and two officials from a company responsible for interior construction inside a franchise pizza store located in Gwanak-gu, Seoul.
According to prosecutors, Kim had been operating the franchise since Oct. 2023 and was found to have been stressed over interior defects at the store, such as some kitchen tiles cracking and water leakage occurring at the kitchen entrance. When the headquarters and the interior company refused free repairs on the grounds that the warranty period (one year) had expired, Kim decided to kill the victims and, the day before the crime, prepared in advance the weapon to be used in the crime, according to the investigation.
Prosecutors believe Kim planned the crime in advance, such as covering the closed-circuit (CC) TV inside the store on the day of the crime, and killed the victims.
Prosecutors also said, "The defendant had already received free repairs for defects that occurred in the early days of opening, and the interior defects the defendant claims were minor, such as damage to two kitchen tiles and leakage at the kitchen entrance," adding, "It was found that the defendant carried out the above premeditated murder even though the franchise's sales at the time were relatively sound."
They added, "We will do our best to ensure that 'a punishment commensurate with the crime' is imposed on the defendant, and we will support the bereaved families so they can quickly return to daily life through economic assistance such as payment of survivor relief funds and funeral and medical expenses, as well as psychological therapy."