The Seoul Central Prosecutors' Office has arrested and indicted suspected serial killer Yoo Young-chul on 11 charges of killing elderly people and women, arson and corpse abandonment. Yoo killed 21 elderly people and women in Seoul from September 2003 to July of this year.
The 3rd Criminal Division of the Seoul District Public Prosecutors Office said Friday that they have secured a statement from suspected serial killer Yoo Young-chul in which he claims to have eaten human flesh.
Prosecutors explained, however, that they have yet to secure evidence proving Yoo engaged in acts of cannibalism. Prosecutors announced the results of mid-way investigations into Yoo's crimes Friday afternoon, saying, "Yoo testified that in order to cleanse his spirit, he ate some of the internal organs from the bodies of four of his victims. We have yet to secure evidence of this, however."
Prosecutors said, "It is difficult to believe Yoo's statement because serial killers tend to exaggerate." Prosecutors also said, "Yoo thought if he hadn't been caught, he would have murdered 100 more victims. He doesn't show any particular signs of reflection on the nature of his serial killings."
In particular, prosecutors revealed that Yoo planned his crimes while doing time in prison on charges of rape after reading a magazine report about Jeong Du-yeong's serial murders in Busan. Jeong Du-young killed wealthy people in Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang Province from June 1999 to April 2000. After being discharged in September 2003, Yoo bought weapons and tested his crimes on dogs ahead of his first crime on Sept. 24, 2003.
Concerning Yoo's killing of rich elderly people, prosecutors said, "When he was young, there was a wealthy house near his home and he longed for it. But he felt discouraged due to his family and economic environment and those feelings transformed into hostility against the rich. Yoo murdered women because of his lover betraying him, and he killed women who had similar jobs to his ex-lover out of a retaliatory spirit."
A psychologist who interviewed Yoo said, "Yoo is not mentally ill. But he shows typical signs of an anti-social disorder in which individuals establish their own unique belief systems on distrust in social and moral norms."
