Man killed girlfriend after fight, kept studio and used air fresheners to hide crime

A diffuser is seen on a table. (123rf)

A South Korean man has been sentenced to 27 years in prison for killing his live-in girlfriend and hiding her body inside their studio apartment for three and a half years, a crime the court described as “cruel, malicious and degrading to human dignity.”

The Incheon District Court also ordered the defendant, a 38-year-old Korean national, to wear an electronic ankle monitor for 15 years after release. Prosecutors said he murdered his girlfriend in January 2021 at their home in Incheon’s Bupyeong district and kept her remains concealed until mid-2024.

According to the ruling, the couple first met in 2015 in Japan, where the woman worked while raising her young son alone after a divorce.

They began living together the following year. The man was deported to Korea in 2017 for overstaying his visa, but continued to fixate on her whereabouts, repeatedly contacting her and even her acquaintances.

The woman returned to Korea in 2018 to visit her mother after surgery. The man seized her passport and coerced her into living with him in Incheon.

Because her Korean resident registration had lapsed years earlier, she was unable to open a bank account, obtain a mobile phone or carry out daily tasks independently — circumstances that prosecutors said deepened her isolation and dependence.

The court found that the man tightly restricted her movements, finances and communication, citing jealousy and fears she might meet other men.

Although the woman briefly spoke with her family after her sister filed a missing-person report in 2018, contact was cut off again shortly afterward.

The killing occurred the night before the man was due to be sentenced in a separate 300 million-won ($202,000) fraud case. After drinking together, they argued about who would care for him if he were jailed, how they would cover their living expenses and the woman’s intention to visit her son in Japan. The court said he then fatally assaulted her.

For the next 42 months, he returned regularly to the apartment to mask the crime, spraying bleach-mixed water on the body, burning incense, using insecticide to kill maggots and running the air conditioner to prevent odors from escaping.

He continued paying monthly rent and utility bills to maintain the lease and avoid suspicion. During this period, he also began a relationship with another woman and fathered a child, according to court documents.

The crime was uncovered only after the man was jailed in May 2024 on the fraud conviction and could no longer tend to the apartment. When the building manager detected a strong odor and was unable to reach him, police were called and discovered the body that July.

The court said the prolonged concealment “amounted to a desecration of the victim” and warranted a severe sentence. The man has appealed the decision.