Motel guest murder case sent to prosecution

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

National

Tue, September 26, 2023 | 09:35

Law & Crime

Motel guest murder case sent to prosecution

Posted : 2019-08-23 16:04

Updated : 2019-08-23 18:08

Jang Dae-ho, the murder suspect of a motel guest, arrives at the Goyang branch of Uijeongbu District Prosecutor's Office in a police vehicle, Friday. Jang's face was not revealed to the press on this day. / Yonhap

By Lee Suh-yoon

Police referred the case of a motel worker who allegedly murdered a guest to the prosecution Friday, handing over the suspect, 38-year-old Jang Dae-ho, to the Uijeongbu District Prosecutor's Office.

Jang, who turned himself in to police Aug. 17, has shown no remorse for the killing that took place at a motel in Guro-gu, Seoul, Aug. 8. The prosecution will soon indict him for murder and damaging the corpse.

Jang Dae-ho in front of Goyang Police Station, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday. / Yonhap

Jang confessed to killing a 32-year-old guest at the motel he worked in following an argument about the cost of a room. According to Jang's testimony, the guest humiliated him with rude language while blowing cigarette smoke into his face. The victim also assaulted him first, Jang said.

After the murder, Jang dismembered the body and threw parts into the Han River. Police found the victim's torso first near Magok Bridge last week, and other body parts later on.

The gruesome details, however, were not the only thing that appalled the public in this case. Unlike other silent and remorseful murder suspects facing the press in a photo line, Jang defiantly asserted the killing was a justifiable form of retaliation.

"The last thing I want to tell the victim? I'll kill you again in the next life if you treat me that way again!" Jang proclaimed after an arrest warrant review at Goyang District Court last Sunday.

Revealed to the public Wednesday, Jang repeated his position to reporters, saying he "did not feel sorry at all" for the victim's family members. He even compared himself to an ancient Koryeo Kingdom military officer who took revenge on a high-ranking civil servant for burning his beard.

Jang was a quiet, introverted person who was usually diligent at his job, the motel owner and other employees told local media. He did not have a criminal record or any history of mental illnesses. Criminal profilers who interviewed Jang said he "had a defensive streak and does not back down from what he thinks is right." His lack of remorse was attributed to extremely poor anger control and social skills, not psychopathy, according to them.

"He doesn't have a prior criminal record or the precision to be labeled a psychopath," Professor Lee Soo-jung at Kyonggi University's criminal psychology department told The Korea Times. "It seems all the small injustices he harbored inside him ― first, school violence and later rude customers in the services industry ― just exploded on that one ill-mannered motel guest."

In the meantime, police have been under fire for their handling of the case. When Jang first tried to turn himself in at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency last week, the civil complaints counter simply told him to go to the nearby Jongno Police Station instead, as he did not say in detail what he wanted to be taken into custody for. Luckily, Jang did not change his mind and flee, but turned himself in there.

Jang is the fourth criminal suspect to be revealed to the public this year. By a special decree, police can make public the face and name of a suspect involved in "brutal crimes' if they have "sufficient evidence" that he or she committed them.

sylee@koreatimes.co.kr