A "gosiwon" in Yeongdeungpo District, Seoul / Korea Times file

A man in his 40s, who was arrested for murdering a woman living in the same "gosiwon," a small, low-cost dormitory-style housing unit, has also been found to have committed sexual assault, according to a prosecution investigation.

According to legal sources, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office's Criminal Division 3 indicted the 43-year-old man on charges of rape and murder under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes, as well as trespassing and unlawful search. He was formally detained and charged on Jan. 23.

The man is accused of bringing a woman in her 20s, who lived on the same floor as him in a gosiwon in Dorim-dong, Yeongdeungpo District in Seoul, into his room on Jan. 4, where he allegedly sexually assaulted and murdered her. Initially, police charged him only with murder, trespassing and unlawful search, but the prosecution uncovered additional circumstantial evidence of sexual assault during further investigation.

Lee turned himself in at the Yeongdeungpo Police Station at approximately 4:30 p.m. the following day and was arrested on Jan. 7. Authorities confirmed that he was fully aware of his actions at the time of the incident and had no prior acquaintance with the victim.

The case has also sparked discussions about safety in gosiwons, where security measures, such as surveillance cameras and restricted access, are often inadequate. A visit to the crime scene by The Hankook Ilbo two days after the incident revealed a lack of security. There were no security cameras in the hallway of the victim's floor, and except for the entrance on the first floor, there were no additional locking mechanisms on each floor.

The first trial for the case is scheduled to take place on March 25 at the Seoul Southern District Court.

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.