Man in His 70s Emergency-Arrested for Killing Ex-Girlfriend in Gangneung

A woman in her 60s was found beaten to death with a blunt object at a house in Gangneung on the night of the 27th, the final day of the Chuseok holiday, and a man in his 70s, believed to be her ex-boyfriend, was emergency-arrested on murder charges. Around 9:30 p.m. on the 27th, an ambulance entered a residential alley in Gangneung after a resident reported hearing someone screaming for their life from a home. The woman in her 60s, who had suffered a severe head injury, was taken to hospital but died.

A nearby resident said, "I heard sounds of someone being beaten," adding, "I heard that when she was carried out on the stretcher, she was gasping, barely able to breathe."

Police emergency-arrested the man in his 70s two and a half hours after the crime and obtained his confession. Investigators found that he had entered an abandoned house near the victim's home and climbed over a wall to get inside. He was already under investigation for trespassing into the victim's home earlier this month.

The victim had filed a stalking complaint against the man in July, but the case was not forwarded to prosecutors on the grounds that his behavior lacked repetition and persistence. Although his dangerousness was recognized at the time and a restraining order was issued, location tracking was never implemented. The victim, it was confirmed, had refused safety measures such as a smartwatch for emergency reporting.

Police have booked the man on murder charges and are investigating the exact circumstances of the incident and the motive behind the crime.