Fisherman charged in death boat murders

The boat a 70-year-old fisherman used when he murdered four young people recently in South Jeolla. [YONHAP]

A 70-year-old fisherman has confessed to the murders of three young women and a man whose bodies were found in the vicinity of Yulpo Beach in Boseong, South Jeolla, Boseong Police said yesterday.
The fisherman, identified only by the surname Oh, killed the four ― a couple and two female friends ― by pushing them into the sea on two different occasions, police said.
On Aug. 31, the couple, a man named Kim, 21, and a woman named Chu, 20, asked Oh to give them a ride on his boat, which was heading out to troll for octopus, police said.
After about 30 minutes, Oh told police he became attracted to the sight of Chu in a short skirt. “I considered the boyfriend to be an obstacle in sexually assaulting the girl, so I tried to get rid of him first,” the elderly fisherman told police. At about 6 p.m. Oh pushed the boyfriend overboard.
Kim, supposedly a well-trained athlete, did not go down easily, police said, and he tried to climb back aboard, prompting Oh to use a long grappling hook to force him to his death in the churning water. Later, Chu also was pushed overboard, Oh admitted, according to police.
About a month later, during the Chuseok holiday, Oh told police that two women, named Cho, 24, and An, 23, asked him for a tour of the sea on his boat. After, three hours, the fisherman started sexually mauling the women. He was then scratched and wounded as the two fought back, police said. The two women and Oh eventually fell into the sea during the struggle, but Oh climbed back to safety. He then used his grappling hook to dispatch An, while her friend Cho was already drowning, police said.
Before the struggle that claimed her life, An sent a text message to someone who had briefly borrowed her phone on land before the women boarded the boat. Police found Oh through the woman who had borrowed the phone. Oh confessed when confronted with the women’s credit cards and other belongings found on his boat.

By Chun Chang-whan JoongAng Ilbo [yhwang@joongang.co.kr]