The body abandoned in Guro’s residential area was that of an illegal Chinese immigrant… lives with wife

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Minhyuk Yoon = The identity of the body found in a 'mummified' state in a residential area in Guro-gu, Seoul has been determined to be an illegal resident of Chinese nationality.

The circumstances of the murder have not been revealed to date, and the cause of death, whether natural or diseased, has not been confirmed due to the decomposition and dryness of the body.

According to Yonhap News coverage on the 29th, the Guro Police Station in Seoul identified the body found in a residential area in Guro-dong on the morning of the 27th as that of a Chinese man.

It was confirmed that the deceased man lived with his wife in a multi-family home owned by Mr. Kim, in his 80s, who is suspected of ordering the abandonment of the body in this case.

The police believe that the wife may have run away because she was concerned that her illegal stay would be revealed if she reported her husband's death.

According to the police, the landlord, Mr. Kim, is accused of discovering the tenant's body and ordering Mr. Kim, who is in his 60s and usually follows him, to throw it in the trash.

The body wrapped in plastic and newspaper was dumped in a garbage dump on the 22nd and left for five days before being discovered by a sanitation worker from Guro-gu Office around 11 a.m. on the 27th.

During the police investigation, the two admitted to abandoning the body.

However, the homeowner, Mr. Kim, stated that he only ordered them to throw away an object that looked like a doll and did not know it was a body.

Mr. Kim, in his 60s, was found to have stated that he had suspicions that it could be a corpse.

At 10:30 a.m. on this day, Chief Judge Kim Ji-hyeon of the Seoul Southern District Court held a pre-arrest interrogation (substantive warrant review) of two people on charges of instigation of corpse abandonment and corpse abandonment, respectively.

Mr. Kim, the homeowner who appeared in court that day, did not answer questions from reporters.

Mr. Kim, in his 60s, was asked by reporters whether he abandoned the body because he knew it was a body, and he answered, "I thought it was a doll." When asked if he admitted to the charge, he said "yes," and when asked if he admitted to the charge of abandoning the body, he said, "I'm sorry."

The police are investigating the deceased man's whereabouts during his lifetime, the circumstances of his death, and the whereabouts of his wife.