A 48-year-old unemployed man has been indicted on charges of murdering his wife and two young daughters, prosecutors said Friday.
The man, identified only by his surname Kang, is accused of strangling his 44-year-old wife and daughters, aged 14 and 8, at his apartment in the posh district of Seocho, southern Seoul, on Jan. 6, according to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office.
After calling the police the following day to confess what he had done, the suspect fled the scene in his car and made a botched suicide attempt at a lake about 150 kilometers southeast of Seoul.
He was arrested around noon that day after a chase on a nearby highway.
Investigators said that financial difficulties might have led him to commit the heinous crime.
A graduate of a prestigious college, Kang had been unemployed for three years after leaving his job at an Oriental medicine clinic in southern Seoul.
After taking out a bank loan of 500 million won (US$454,000) with his apartment put up as collateral, he lost a large sum in unprofitable stock investments, according to the investigators.
But the prosecution said it is trying to find any other motive for the murder because his wife had some 300 million won in her bank accounts.
"According to a psychiatric test, Kang showed some symptoms of depression, but no mental disorder has been detected," a prosecutor said. "His dichotomous ways of thinking and distorted self-esteem appear to have caused him to make such an extreme decision." (Yonhap)
The man, identified only by his surname Kang, is accused of strangling his 44-year-old wife and daughters, aged 14 and 8, at his apartment in the posh district of Seocho, southern Seoul, on Jan. 6, according to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office.
After calling the police the following day to confess what he had done, the suspect fled the scene in his car and made a botched suicide attempt at a lake about 150 kilometers southeast of Seoul.
He was arrested around noon that day after a chase on a nearby highway.
Investigators said that financial difficulties might have led him to commit the heinous crime.
A graduate of a prestigious college, Kang had been unemployed for three years after leaving his job at an Oriental medicine clinic in southern Seoul.
After taking out a bank loan of 500 million won (US$454,000) with his apartment put up as collateral, he lost a large sum in unprofitable stock investments, according to the investigators.
But the prosecution said it is trying to find any other motive for the murder because his wife had some 300 million won in her bank accounts.
"According to a psychiatric test, Kang showed some symptoms of depression, but no mental disorder has been detected," a prosecutor said. "His dichotomous ways of thinking and distorted self-esteem appear to have caused him to make such an extreme decision." (Yonhap)