hankyoreh

By Kim Ki-sung, South Gyeonggi correspondent

Wu Yuanchun, a 42-year-old ethnic Korean from China, was sentenced to death for the murder of a woman in Suwon last April.

Throughout the court hearing, new and shocking details of the murder emerged. It now appears that Wu kidnapped the victim more because he wanted to eat or sell her flesh than to murder her.

Wu was sentenced to death June 15 by Suwon District Criminal Court, under judge Lee Dong-hun. He had been arrested and charged with murder and desecration of a corpse for his abduction and slaying of a 28-year-old woman, identified by the initial “G,” who had been walking home at the time.

In its ruling, the court said, “The defendant shows no signs of remorse, having slain the victim with base motives beyond the purpose of rape and maintaining an insincere attitude even after the crime.”

"Even if the death penalty is an inhuman punishment that strips a human being of his life, we have no choice but to hold him sternly accountable,” the court said in explanation of its decision.

The court also said, “The means and methods were cruel and grotesque, with the defendant taking [the victim’s] honor after attempting rape twice unsuccessfully, and desecrating the corpse by cutting flesh from it.”

“This is a crime against humanity, one that shakes the foundations of society and cannot be tolerated,” the court ruled.

The court noted that the regular size of the sections removed from the body suggested advanced skills by the perpetrator. “It appears that the motive was always to provide human flesh from a corpse for illicit purposes, and not simply rape,” it said.

As a basis for this, it cited the fact that Wu spent six hours dismembering the body. If his goal had been to dispose of it, he likely would have attempted to minimize the time. It also cited the regularity of size and shape in the excised portions, as well as the careful, protracted carving with a kitchen knife when Wu had a saw and other implements available. The portions of roughly equal size were then divided into plastic bags. It also mentioned the suspicious deletion of telephone records between Dec. 31, 2011, and Feb. 28, 2012.

“While it has not been established for certain, there appear to be considerable grounds for believing that the defendant dismembered the body for uses, including the provision of human flesh,” the court said.

It was suggested that Wu’s goal may have been to sell the body parts. This was based on the fact that he spent a long period of time dismembering the body, a process that required periodically sharpening the knife.

Suwon District Court public relations judge Si Jin-guk said, “In making reference to human flesh, the court was not recognizing its criminality, but listing the role motive played in determining sentence.”

An official with the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office said, “We have nothing to say about the ruling.”

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