Killer-for-hire Web site prompts arrest
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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Police arrested a 25-year-old college senior Wednesday on charges of conspiring to murder for operating a killer-for-hire Web site and taking thousands of dollars from his customers.
In one case, the student, identified only by his surname Kim, received the equivalent of $8,600 from a 22-year-old woman who wanted her ex-boyfriend and his wife murdered, said Chung Dong-yul, a police investigator in the city of Daegu.
Kim had promised the woman, identified only as Jeong, he would have the two killed in a staged traffic accident, Chung said.
Police also arrested Jeong on charges of conspiring to murder.
According to police, Kim was also approached by a 17-year-old customer, known as Sohn, who wanted his father and stepmother killed. Sohn was not arrested because he was a minor.
The high school student promised to give Kim most of the insurance money he would have received from his parents' deaths. Police did not know how much insurance would be paid.
None of the killings were ever carried out and Kim will not be charged with attempted murder because he had no concrete plans to fulfill the transactions.
Kim told police he opened the Internet site because he couldn't find a job and needed to repay a $1,724 loan, according to Chung.
Other requests made to Kim's online service ranged from changing grades to rape and gun smuggling, Chung said. Police did not release the Internet address of Kim's Web site.
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