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(Hankyoreh file photo)

A man apprehended for sexually and physically assaulting a woman in broad daylight in a wooded park in Seoul on Thursday reportedly carried out the attack knowing that there were no cameras in the area. Police suspect the assault was premeditated.

Seoul Gwanak Police Station on Friday revealed that the man, identified as “K” and in his 30s, confessed that he had “chosen the location for his crime because he was aware it had no CCTVs due to his frequent visits” to the park.

While being interrogated by police, the assailant acknowledged his crime, saying that he had carried out the attack because he “wanted to rape” someone. Police said the man told interrogators he had been wearing brass knuckles on both hands when he beat his victim, a woman in her 30s.

At around 12:10 pm on Wednesday, police arrested the man along a walking path in a hillside park in Seoul’s Sillim neighborhood for beating and sexually assaulting a woman. Police booked him on suspicion of inflicting or causing bodily injury by rape.

The woman was transported to a hospital but reportedly remains unconscious and in critical condition.

Police suspect that the attack was premeditated and are continuing their investigation on that basis. So far, the investigation has found that the assailant did not know his victim, nor did he live in the Sillim area. Police reported that he had left his home in the Doksan neighborhood of Seoul’s Geumcheon District at around 9:55 that morning and arrived at the Mount Gwanak walking path in Sillim just after 11 am.

Police plan to seek a warrant to hold the man in custody on Friday.

This latest brutal attack has rattled the public, having occurred not even a full month after a separate incident in which a man went on a rampage with a knife near Sillim Station on July 21. With police having stepped up their presence in the Sillim area after the stabbing spree, it’s likely that the efficacy of police response measures will come up for debate.

In response to an uptick in armed rampages, police recently declared a state of “special peacekeeping activities” and have dispatched more than 10,000 officers per day to 3,329 heavily trafficked areas.

By Yoon Yeon-jeong, staff reporter

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