Busan murder suspect apologizes to victim's family

Jung Yoo-jung, a murder suspect in Busan, leaves a police station to head to the prosecutors on Friday morning. [NEWS1]

Jung Yoo-jung, a 23-year-old suspected of killing a woman in her 20s, said she was “out of her mind” for committing her alleged crimes.

Jung was being sent to prosecutors from Busan police for further investigation Friday morning when she told reporters that she feels “really sorry for the victim’s family.”

She had initially testified that her crimes were “accidental,” but later told the police that she killed the victim because she wanted to “give murder a try.” Jung confessed that she planned the murder after her “curiosity was piqued from reading novels and watching TV programs on murder.”

The 23-year-old had reportedly been preparing the murder as early as three months prior to committing the crime, perusing murder-related content and searching “murder without a corpse” on the internet.

She was studying for a written test to become a civil servant, going to study rooms and public libraries, at the time of her alleged murder, according to her grandfather who spoke to a news outlet Thursday.

“I want to express my sincerest apology to the victim’s family for failing to raise my granddaughter properly,” Jung’s grandfather said.

Jung was arrested on May 27 for allegedly killing the victim — a freelance tutor and university student — she met via a tutor brokerage app at the victim’s home in Geumjeong District in Busan the previous day and discarding parts of the corpse.

She was caught by authorities after a cab driver who drove her to a riverside area in Yangsan, northwest of Busan, past midnight reported her after she went into the bushes with a bloodstained suitcase.

Jung said she approached the victim as a school parent looking for a private tutor on the mobile app and was able to enter the victim’s home wearing a school uniform, pretending to be a student herself.

BY SOHN DONG-JOO [sohn.dongjoo@joongang.co.kr]