Police release name of man accused of stalking, fatally stabbing partner 

Police disclosed the identity of the suspect accused of killing his former partner in retaliation for a stalking complaint on Tuesday — a man named Kim Sang-su.

The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency posted Kim’s name, age and mug shot on its website at 9 a.m. on Tuesday. The information will remain public for 30 days, or until 9 a.m. on Sept. 24, and then be removed.

A police committee that rules on identity disclosures voted to release the material on Aug. 18, but publication was postponed a week because Kim refused to sign a waiver. The law on naming suspects in serious crimes requires investigators to notify a suspect of their decision, then wait five days to publicize their identity unless the suspect states in writing that they do not object to the release. This window exists so that suspects can go to an administrative court and ask to suspend the police’s decision while they sue to overturn it.

The law also requires the information to remain online for 30 days.

Kim is accused of stabbing a woman on a street in Jungwon District in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, at about 3 a.m. on July 5. The two had dated for four years before separating.

Investigators concluded that the attack was planned, as he had bought the weapon before the attack and went to find her. The woman had also previously filed a stalking complaint against Kim. 

Police first treated the case as a murder. They later switched to the heavier offense of retaliatory murder, which carries a stiffer statutory sentence, and handed the case to prosecutors last Wednesday, with Kim in custody.

BY HYEON YE-SEUL [[email protected]]