Prosecutors on Friday said that they will further look into the mental condition of the murder suspect who stabbed a woman to death near Gangnam Station, to identify whether the crime was driven by hatred toward women or a mental disorder.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office requested a state-run hospital in Gongju, South Chungcheong Province, to carry out a psychiatric test on the suspect’s state of mind before and after the crime, its officials said.
“The hospital will keep experts around Kim and closely study his overall mental conditions to see whether his mental impairment prompted him to commit the murder,” said an official from the prosecutors’ office.
Kim was arrested on charges of stabbing a 23-year-old woman to death at a public bathroom near Gangnam Station on May 17. He said he had committed the crime because he had been belittled by women, according to his testimonies. The case was sent to the prosecution in late May.
The prosecutors’ request for a psychiatric test comes amid fierce debate over whether the crime was a hate crime against women or a crime committed by a mentally ill person.
After profilers conducted an in-depth interview with the suspect, the police had concluded that the murder of the woman was an “accidental crime” by a man whose symptoms of schizophrenia had deteriorated at the time of the crime.
Kim has been hospitalized for schizophrenia six times since 2008. But he had not taken medication since he was discharged from hospital in January.
The case has resulted in many women coming forward to speak about their experiences of gender discrimination, triggering public calls for measures to curb hate crimes against women in the country.
Government data and overseas research suggest that mental illnesses may not be major factors in committing crimes.
According to Supreme Prosecutors’ Office reports, those suffering mental disturbances accounted for only 0.5 percent of all criminals in 2014 and 0.4 percent in 2013. In a 2014 study by the American Psychological Association on 143 offenders with serious mental disorders, only 7.5 percent of the crimes were associated with their illness.
South Korea’s criminal law stipulates that offenders with the mental inability to make decisions or identify objects are subject to reduced sentences in prison. Such symptoms of mental illnesses include neurasthenia, schizophrenia, epilepsy and alcohol or drug addiction.
By Ock Hyun-ju (
laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)
