Murder suspect who stabbed stranger in public toilet felt ‘belittled by women’
Prosecutors believe a key trigger behind the murder was when a passing woman tossed a cigarette butt which landed on his shoe two days earlier
The suspect in a murder of a young woman in Seoul’s upmarket Gangnam district was indicted Sunday, in a case that triggered a public outcry over fears of violent misogyny in South Korea.
Hundreds of mourners attended a candlelight vigil after the 23-year-old victim was stabbed to death by a stranger at a public bathroom in May.
Police have said the murder suspect, a 34-year-old man identified only by his surname Kim who remains in custody, had told them he carried out the attack because he felt “belittled by women”.
Prosecutors said on Sunday they believed a key trigger behind his murder of a random female victim happened two days before the killing, when the suspect said a cigarette butt tossed by a passing woman had landed on his shoe, Yonhap news agency reported.
The suspect told prosecutors women had caused him a lot of stress, according to Yonhap.
Kim was diagnosed with acute schizophrenia in 2009 and had been repeatedly admitted to hospital. However, he had stopped taking medication in January when he discharged himself.
The defendant does seem to have hostility against women