A man attended a court hearing on Thursday regarding an arrest warrant sought for him on charges of slashing a random neighbor to death with a Japanese longsword, saying he doesn’t feel sorry for the victim.
The 37-year-old assailant, surnamed Baek, brandished a 75-centimeter Japanese blade at the entrance of his apartment complex in Seoul’s northern Eunpyeong district shortly before midnight Monday and killed a 43-year-old male neighbor, who was smoking outdoors at the time.
The victim was slashed on the back and shoulder and was taken to a hospital but died from his wounds shortly afterward.
On Thursday, Baek attended a hearing at the Seoul Western District Court regarding an arrest warrant requested for him. He said he is not sorry for the victim and spoke incoherently about the reasons for his attack.
“No,” Baek responded when a reporter asked if he feels any remorse for the victim.
After the court hearing ended, Baek told reporters again: “The motive for my crime was to punish (first lady) Kim Keon
Hee and Chinese spies who sold out the country.” He also claimed that they had plotted to wage war on the Korean Peninsula with China.
He incoherently claimed that the reason he took the sword with him on the night of the crime was to punish what he described as Chinese spies.
Baek said he had nothing to say to the victim and his bereaved family and claimed that he was in his “right mind” and was not in a state of mental vulnerability at the time.
During the initial police investigation, he claimed that he believed the victim was a spy shadowing him.
Police found that the two did not know each other personally, except for having come across one another while walking in the neighborhood.
Police officers had reportedly been dispatched to address Baek in the past due to abnormal behavior, such as yelling or swearing to himself in his apartment complex.
Police are looking into whether he had a history of mental illness and the exact circumstances of the crime.
Source: Yonhap News Agency