Court Denies Arrest Warrants for Elderly Suspects in Body Disposal Case

Seoul's Guro District has seen two elderly suspects avoid arrest in a body disposal case.

According to Yonhap News on October 29, Judge Kim Ji-hyun of the Seoul Southern District Court held a pre-arrest interrogation for a 60-year-old man, identified as Kim, and an 80-year-old man, also named Kim, both facing charges of body disposal and incitement to body disposal. The judge denied both arrest warrants after the hearings held at 10:30 a.m.

Judge Kim stated that for the 60-year-old suspect, who is accused of directly disposing of the body in a residential area in Guro-dong, "given his stable residence, acknowledgment of wrongdoing, and lack of prior serious criminal history, there is little concern for flight or evidence tampering." He added, "At this stage, the reasons and necessity for arrest cannot be recognized."

The judge also determined that the 80-year-old suspect, who allegedly instructed the body disposal, posed no risk of flight or evidence tampering. He noted, "Considering his family ties, advanced age, health status, and lack of significant criminal history aside from a conviction 50 years ago, the reasons for arrest at this stage are not justified." The 80-year-old is the owner of a multi-family dwelling in Guro District.

The 60-year-old suspect had previously lived as a tenant in the same building and reportedly regarded the 80-year-old as a father figure. Both men admitted to disposing of the body during police questioning. The 80-year-old claimed he was unaware that the item he instructed to be discarded was a body, stating he thought it was an object resembling a doll.

The 60-year-old acknowledged he suspected the item could be a body. Upon entering the court for the arrest hearing, he responded to reporters' questions about whether he knew it was a body by saying, "I thought it was a doll." When asked if he acknowledged the charges, he replied, "Yes," and when questioned specifically about the body disposal charge, he said, "I’m sorry."

The identity of the disposed body has been confirmed as that of an undocumented Chinese national. There are no indications of foul play, and the cause of death remains undetermined due to decomposition and desiccation. The deceased had reportedly lived in the multi-family dwelling owned by the 80-year-old with his wife. Police suspect the wife may have fled out of fear that reporting her husband's death would reveal her undocumented status.

Previously, the body, wrapped in plastic and newspaper, had been left unattended for five days before being discovered by a sanitation worker from the Guro District Office around 11 a.m. on October 27. By that time, the body had already begun to decompose and dry out, entering a state of mummification.