SEOUL: A Seoul-based former police officer who had been reported missing in another area was arrested Tuesday (Aug 25) on suspicion of murdering his wife on Jeju Island.
Seogwipo police captured the suspect in Gyeonggi Province at around 12.30am Tuesday (Aug 25).
The man is accused of stabbing his wife to death at around 7pm Monday at her home in Seogwipo. The couple was going through a divorce and lived apart.
The man's family reported him as missing at around 1.52pm on Sunday. The family filed the missing-person report with the police in Seoul, where the man lives.
Seoul police then requested assistance from police in Guri, Gyeonggi Province, which the man was known to visit, and Seogwipo.
Seogwipo police went to the woman's home, rang the doorbell and sounded their sirens, but left when they saw no movement inside.
Police visited the home again in the afternoon, saw broken windows, entered the home and found the victim dead.
The man served as a police officer for six years on Jeju Island before retiring, and has been living in Seoul apart from his wife since last year.
Police believe that the crime was motivated by the ongoing divorce, and plan to question the man in Jeju. The man has reportedly not denied the charge.
The incident has sparked complaints about the police's failure to track the man from Seoul to Jeju, amid mounting criticism that was touched off by another case involving a different Jeju police officer closing missing-person cases under false pretenses.
It has recently been found that the Jeju police officer, surnamed Bu, had allegedly closed the investigation into the disappearance of 37-year-old Jang Mi-ran without confirming her safety. A body believed to belong to that of Jang was found on Monday.
Another missing-person case was found to have been closed by Bu, also allegedly under false pretenses.
The man in his 60s at the centre of that case was also later found dead. - The Korea Herald/ANN
