A Chinese national suspected of killing a Chinese graduate student is escorted into Gyeongsan Police Station after his arrest in Hayang-eup, Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang, on Aug. 25.NEWS1
GYEONGSAN, North Gyeongsang — A Chinese man accused of killing a 25-year-old Chinese graduate student at his home in North Gyeongsang reported her missing to police the following day, then carried her phone to a railway station in neighboring Daegu while dressed in women's clothing to make it appear as if she had traveled there alive, investigators said Wednesday.
The suspect taught at the university where the student was enrolled, the school said Wednesday. He led two undergraduate courses there during the first semester.
Police are confirming the veracity of a post circulating in a group for Chinese students in the area saying the suspect was on friendly terms with students and was acquainted with the victim.
The student finished her coursework while living in Korea and had gotten a job in China. She returned on Aug. 14 for what turned out to be the last time, to collect her certificate of completion and attend her commencement ceremony.
Her family lost contact with her late last Thursday, the day of graduation. The suspect reported her missing the next evening, telling officers he was her boyfriend. Police are now trying to establish when she died, and whether the suspect waited a day to report her missing because he had already killed her.
Investigators first traced the student's phone to a convenience store outside her graduate school and then to the area around Dongdaegu Station, Daegu's main railway hub, and read those signals as her own movements. Further investigating found that the suspect had killed her at his home and carried the phone to the station himself in women's clothes before switching it off. Police also confirmed footage of him changing clothes in a restroom nearby and returning home.
Officers who found signs of a crime during the search identified him as the prime suspect and tracked him through CCTV footage. They arrested him at around 7:29 p.m. Tuesday on a street in Hayang-eup, Gyeongsan, and found the student's body at his home in the same neighborhood later that day, five days after she disappeared.
A Chinese national suspected of killing a Chinese graduate student is escorted into Gyeongsan Police Station after his arrest in Hayang-eup, Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang, on Aug. 25.NEWS1
Police took the suspect to the Gyeongsan Police Station at around 11:50 p.m. Tuesday after an on-site investigation. When asked by reporters about his motive as he entered, he lowered his head and said nothing. Police reportedly did not conduct a formal interrogation overnight because he arrived so late.
The police said that the victim and the suspect knew each other before the killing.
Authorities plan to search the suspect's home and other locations for further evidence, and to seek an arrest warrant once questioning is complete. An autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of death, which has not been established.
"It is difficult to disclose details because the investigation is ongoing," a police official said.
A post titled "Urgent search for a missing person in Daegu, Korea" appeared on a Chinese online community before the body was found. The writer, claiming to be the student's older sister, said the victim was a graduate student at a university in Gyeongsan who had entered Korea on Aug. 14 ahead of graduating this year, and that the last contact came at about 8 p.m. on Thursday.
Chinese online communities have mourned the victim's death since news of the death spread, along with calls for a thorough investigation and severe punishment.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
