A man arrested in Friday’s deadly stabbing rampage said Sunday he committed the crime due to his unspecified “extreme hardship” and that he repents for his actions that left one person killed and three others wounded.
The 33-year-old suspect, surnamed Cho, made the remarks as he left the Seoul Gwanak Police Station around 1 p.m. to attend a court hearing at the Seoul Central District Court set to determine whether to issue an arrest warrant for the man on charges of murder and attempted murder.
“I committed the crime due to my extreme hardship. I am repenting,” Cho told reporters without elaborating on what hardship he has been in.
He repeatedly said to reporters, “I’m sorry,” with his eyes closed as he left the police station.
Upon arrival at the court, Cho said he had been in “too bad a situation since a long time ago” but did not elaborate.
“It was too wrong of me,” he said. “I am a useless person. I’m sorry.”
On Friday, Cho was detained after stabbing a complete stranger in his 20s multiple times to death with a weapon near Seoul’s Sillim Station and then wounding three other men by wielding the weapon in a nearby alleyway.
The suspect and the victims were strangers, police said.
During the investigation, the suspect reportedly confessed to have been “filled with anger” while committing the crime and said he “wanted to make other people miserable” because he was also living a miserable life, according to police.
One of the three injured victims has been discharged from the hospital while the two others are still receiving treatment, they added.
The court will decide later in the day whether to issue an arrest warrant for the man.
Meanwhile, the police have requested the Korea Communications Standards Commission to delete CCTV footage of the stabbing rampage uploaded online and prevent people from accessing the videos.
Police said they will strengthen monitoring of where the footage is being spread online and investigate online users who repeatedly upload or share such videos with others, considering the footage could inflict secondary damage on the victims and aggravate public concern.
Source: Yonhap News Agency