Sick mother, daughters in Suwon decide to end it all

A mother and two grown daughters were found dead in their apartment in Suwon in what appeared to be suicide due to debt and disease.

Police found the decomposing bodies of three women inside an apartment in Suwon, Gyeonggi, on Sunday afternoon after receiving a complaint of a horrible smell. The bodies appeared to be of a woman in her 60s and her two daughters in their 20s and 30s. There were no signs of a break-in at the residence or of external injuries on the corpses.

All three women were reportedly sick.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the mother was being treated for cancer, while her two daughters had rare incurable diseases that made life difficult.

A suicide note left by the mother said they had financial difficulties due to their health problems. The family reportedly fell behind on monthly rent payments of around 400,000 won ($297).

The trio spent most of their time inside the apartment, and the mother was a widow. They had no relatives or neighbors to turn to, according to media reports.

The local government wasn’t aware of their financial hardship as the women had never applied for welfare such as basic livelihood security program benefits.

The mother and daughters moved to the apartment in Suwon in Feb. 2020. Their address was registered at an acquaintance's house in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi, and they never registered their new address.

“If their moving-in was reported, the village headman would have made a visit to their home and advised them on welfare services,” a city official from Suwon said.

After autopsies, the police will announce the exact cause and estimated time of the deaths.

BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]