South Korean police have identified the person responsible for the so-called serial killings of Hwaseong , a case that was unsolved since it shocked the country in the 1980s and inspired the Chronicle of a serial killer ( Memories of Murder , 2003).
It is believed that the suspect is related to at least three of the 10 murders and violations recorded between 1986 and 1991 around the town of Hwaseong (40 kilometers south of Seoul ), as reported by the local division of the National Police Agency (NPA).
The man, identified by the police only by the surname Lee and as Lee Chun-jae by several local media citing sources close to the investigation, is 56 years old and is serving a life sentence in the city of Busan , in the southeast of the country, by the murder and rape of his sister-in-law in 1994 in Cheongju (85 kilometers southeast of Hwaseong).
The police have identified them after new samples of the victims' clothing could be obtained and that they coincided with the man's DNA. When questioned by the police after the discovery, Lee has denied his involvement in Hwaseong's crimes , the NPA told a news conference today.
Between September 1986 and April 1991, ten women (including two minors and two women in their 70s) were raped and strangled to death using a similar modus operandi in the vicinity of Hwaseong.
The case provided the largest police operation in the country's history and a list of suspects that exceeded 20,000 people . Although the last of the crimes prescribed in 2006, police say they will continue to investigate the possible involvement of the suspect in the rest of Hwaseong's murders.
In addition to several television series, the crimes inspired a play that was later adapted to the big screen by South Korean director and screenwriter Bong Joon-ho in 2003 with the Chronicle title of a serial killer .
Bong's film, which with this work won the Silver Shell for the best direction at the San Sebastian Festival , was the most watched of that year in South Korea with more than 5 million viewers and today is considered a film of worship.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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