Suspect of underaged sex solicitation investigation caught after fleeing during hospital treatment

A man who escaped while receiving treatment at a hospital during detention was apprehended by police about 14 hours later.

Officers arrested the fugitive suspect at about 2:17 a.m. at a Buddhist hermitage in a mountain area of Gijang County, Busan, according to Suyeong Police Station on Saturday.

The suspect had been detained on Wednesday on charges of purchasing sex from a minor and had been under investigation at Suyeong Police Station in Busan.

The suspect escaped at about 11:50 a.m. Friday after opening a window in a second-floor restroom at a hospital in Suyeong District, where he had been taken for treatment of a chronic illness, taking advantage of a lapse in supervision by three detectives.

The suspect's handcuffs were later found intact outside the hospital building on the first floor.

Police tracked the suspect's movements through closed-circuit television footage and other methods before making the arrest. Authorities reportedly faced difficulties locating him because he had fled carrying only a small amount of cash without a mobile phone or credit cards.

Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the escape.

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.

BY KIM EUN-BIN [[email protected]]