Identity of taxi driver murder suspect revealed

The suspect who admitted to killing a taxi driver and his ex-girlfriend was revealed to be a 31-year-old Lee Ki-young, according to police Thursday.

In a rare move, Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency revealed the suspect's name and age. His driver's license photo was also released upon his request.

The decision to divulge Lee's identity was because the murder case was considered highly condemnable and that it had enough evidence, it added. A suspect's identity and personal information is very rarely revealed before conviction in Korea.

The news came a day after the Goyang Branch Court of Uijeongbu District Court in northwestern Gyeonggi Province arrested Lee on charges of murder and concealment of deceased bodies.

Lee earlier admitted to beating the 60-year-old taxi driver to death in his house in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, and hiding the body inside a closet. Lee's car collided with the taxi while Lee was allegedly under the influence and the two headed to Lee's house to settle the matter.

Over the course of the investigation, Lee confessed to killing a 50-something woman in August. The body of the woman, who is Lee's ex-girlfriend and landlady, has yet to be discovered despite a joint search operation by the police, divers and helicopters, as of Thursday.

Lee told the police that he hid the body of the woman inside a vehicle hard-shell carrier and dumped the carrier into a creek.