Couple claim dual role in mutilation of son, 7

The mother of the 7-year-old whose mutilated remains were found frozen in his parents’ house nearly four years after he vanished from school testified Wednesday that her husband physically abused the boy for almost two straight hours the day before the child died, according to local police.

Police said the woman told them that her husband had drank on Nov. 7, 2012, and “punched the boy’s face with his fist, forced him to lie down on the floor and kicked him in the head.”

The father, 34, surnamed Choi, reportedly acknowledged the statement and said he found the boy unconscious in the living room the next day when he woke up around 5 p.m.

Sensing something was wrong, he immediately called his wife, surnamed Han, 34, at work and told her to come home immediately, the suspect said.

The couple said that Han evacuated their daughter to the child’s grandparents’ house and returned the following day on Nov. 9, when she and Choi cut their son’s body into pieces.

Their testimonies Wednesday contradict an earlier statement that the boy “suddenly died” one day, collapsing as Choi forced him to take a shower.

The suspects previously claimed Choi was single-handedly responsible for mutilating the body.

BY LEE SUNG-EUN, CHOI MO-RAN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]