Couple referred to prosecution over masterminding kidnapping-murder of woman

Yoo Sang-won, center, one of the two masterminds behind a recent murder of a woman in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, talks to reporters at the Suseo Police Station on Thursday. [YONHAP]

A couple accused of masterminding a recent kidnapping and murder of a woman in downtown Seoul was referred to prosecutors Thursday for further investigation and indictment, police said.

The couple — named Yoo Sang-won and Hwang Eun-hee — allegedly accepted the key murder suspect Lee Kyeong-woo's proposal to kill the victim, and paid him a total of 70 million won ($53,000) in return, according to the Suseo Police Station.

"I have been falsely accused," Yoo, the husband, told reporters as he was transferred from the police station.

Police earlier referred Lee and two other murder accomplices — Hwang Dae-han and Yeon Ji-ho — to the prosecution on charges of kidnapping the 48-year-old woman from southern Seoul's Gangnam District on March 29. They allegedly killed her the following day and buried her body on a hill in Daejeon.

Lee and Hwang have known each other since 2021 through their cryptocurrency investments, with the murdered victim also involved.

The couple, who reportedly possessed considerable wealth, had been in legal disputes with the victim over the cryptocurrency investment losses.

Police suspect that the couple had planned to liquidate the victim's cryptocurrency.

Yonhap