Seoul city councilor detained for abetting murder

A member of the Seoul municipal council has been arrested on charges of abetting the murder of a wealthy man to whom he owed hundreds of thousands of dollars, police said Sunday.

The 44-year-old Seoul city councilor, identified only by his surname Kim, is charged with instigating a friend to kill the 67-year-old man, surnamed Song, in early March.

After borrowing 500 million won ($493,000) from Song between 2010 and 2011, Kim had been pressured to repay the money since late 2012, police said, adding that Song, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, threatened Kim not to run for the June local elections, according to police.

In the June 4 local polls, Kim ran as a candidate of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy and won a seat in the Seoul city council. He left the party after being arrested by police.

Kim's friend has also been arrested on charges of killing Song at his office in western Seoul by hitting him on the head with a blunt object dozens of times, police said.

The friend said he had committed the murder on Kim's promise to write off 70 million won he owed to the councilor, police added.

The suspected killer, who fled to China three days after the murder, was arrested by Chinese police in Shenyang a week ago and repatriated on Tuesday.

Police said they plan to refer the case to the prosecution after further investigating if other people were involved in the murder. (Yonhap)