Prosecution office seeks supplementary investigation into 'Songpa mother-in-law murder' case, focuses on proving premeditation

[Financial News] The prosecution office has asked police to conduct a supplementary investigation into a case in Songpa District, Seoul, in which a man stabbed and killed his mother-in-law and then abducted and confined his wife. The move is understood to be aimed at gathering further evidence to establish that the crime was planned and had a retaliatory motive, as suspect Kim Seong-woo, 26, claims it was impulsive.
According to police and other sources on the 27th, the Seoul Eastern District Prosecution Office recently requested a supplementary investigation by Seoul Songpa Police Station to determine whether Kim Seong-woo’s crime was planned in advance or carried out impulsively.
A Songpa Police Station official said, “It’s true that a request for a supplementary investigation was made,” but added, “We cannot confirm specific details of the investigation, such as interviews with people involved.”
Kim Seong-woo is suspected of stabbing and killing his mother-in-law, who was in her 50s, with a weapon on the 11th in front of his in-laws’ home in Songpa District, Seoul, while he tried to forcibly take his wife, identified as A, away; his mother-in-law was trying to stop him.
He is also suspected of putting A in a vehicle immediately after the crime, taking her to a wooded hill in Yangyang County, Gangwon Province, and confining her there, as well as hitting her in the face several times inside the vehicle.
Kim Seong-woo claims the crime was impulsive, but police determined that he had planned it in advance and, on the 20th, referred him to prosecutors in custody on suspicion of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes (retaliatory murder and retaliatory confinement), among other charges.
The supplementary investigation is reportedly focused on securing additional evidence to support the planned nature of the crime and its retaliatory motive, rather than overturning the findings of the police’s existing investigation.
[email protected] Lee Dong-hyuk Reporter