Family and Police Could Not Stop the Mapo Confinement Murder Case... Why Couldn't They Even Resist?

Suspects Ahn Mo (20) and Kim Mo (20), accused of confining a friend and causing death through cruel acts in an officetel in Mapo-gu, are being transferred from the Seoul Mapo Police Station to the prosecution on the 22nd. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghoon Jeong] A man in his 20s, Mr. A, who died in a severely underweight state of 34 kg while being confined in an officetel in Mapo-gu, Seoul, was unable to resist in any meaningful way during nearly three months of abuse. Despite his family’s missing person report and complaint, and even a somewhat passive police investigation, he could not escape the grasp of the perpetrators, who were his so-called friends.

According to the police on the 23rd, the victim Mr. A was a high school classmate of one of the two suspects. The suspects themselves were middle school and university classmates and began living together in an officetel in Gangnam, Seoul, since June last year. Mr. A, who lived in a provincial area, had no ties in Seoul and appeared to have visited the officetel where they lived occasionally since July last year.

From that period, the physical abuse against the victim began. The suspects claimed that “A broke a laptop” and continued the assaults. Eventually, Mr. A was voluntarily taken to the police and returned to his family in November last year, but on March 31 this year, he met the suspects again and traveled to Seoul by public transportation. Since the two brought Mr. A during daytime hours, it is known that he followed them willingly. There is no evidence yet that he was forcibly taken.

Professor Gong Jeongsik of the Department of Criminal Psychology at Kyonggi University analyzed, “The victim appears to have developed a psychological dominance-submission relationship with the suspects due to prolonged exposure to violence,” adding, “He fell into a psychological state where he could have asked for help or escaped the violence but did not request rescue.” Such crimes often have long victimization periods and are difficult to detect and punish because victims do not recognize that they are being abused.

The police have identified April 1 as the date when Mr. A was confined by Mr. An and others. They abused the victim in various ways for about three months until he was found dead on the 13th of this month. During this period, Mr. A had opportunities to seek help from those around him. This was when he went twice to work unloading and loading at a logistics center in Gyeonggi Province under the coercion of the suspects. Although one of the suspects accompanied him, he did not seek help outside.

The police believe that due to emotional abuse and threats, Mr. A was in a state where it was difficult to ask for help. The suspects continuously filmed the harassment of Mr. A since October last year and recorded the abuse on their mobile phone cameras until the end of last month. The police stated, “Due to respect for the deceased’s honor, we cannot disclose detailed contents of the materials, but they contain various coercion and abuse situations sufficient to prove the charges.” The two suspects were sent to the prosecution on the 22nd under the Special Act on Punishment of Sexual Violence Crimes for retaliation charges.