North Korean defector faces arrest warrant in death of her brother

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Police in Busan have requested the arrest of a North Korean defector in her 50s on suspicion of killing her younger brother, who was found dead at her apartment earlier this year.

The Gijang Police Station said Friday that it applied for a pretrial arrest warrant on Nov. 23 on murder charges, and prosecutors formally sought the warrant the following day.

A warrant review hearing is scheduled for Dec. 30 at the Busan District Court Dongbu Branch.

According to police, the woman is accused of killing her brother, a North Korean defector in his 40s, at her apartment in Gijang-gun on Aug. 29. The man was found dead at around 8 p.m. that day.

The sister told investigators she had left the apartment at around 5 p.m. and returned about three hours later.

She said she tried to wake her brother, who was lying in the living room, but reported the incident to police after receiving no response. Her husband was in the apartment at the time and later told investigators he had been asleep in a room.

The siblings, both North Korean defectors, lived nearby and were known to visit each other frequently, police said.

An initial forensic examination found that the man likely died of asphyxiation caused by compression of the neck, with investigators estimating the fatal act occurred one to two hours before he was found.

While strangulation by another person was considered a possibility, police said no clear defensive injuries were discovered at the scene.

At the time, police questioned the sister and her husband as witnesses but did not make an arrest, citing a lack of evidence to identify a suspect.

Several days after the incident, the husband was found dead inside his car along with what appeared to be a suicide note.

The investigation later took a turn after toxicology tests revealed that the deceased had a sleeping medication in his system with the same active ingredient as a drug prescribed to his sister, according to police.

Based on the test results and additional evidence gathered over subsequent months, investigators formally named the sister as a suspect earlier this month and questioned her twice.

Police said they decided to seek an arrest warrant after determining there was substantial suspicion of a crime. They declined to disclose further details, citing the ongoing investigation.

The woman has denied the allegations, reportedly telling investigators she had no reason to harm her brother, who defected from North Korea with her.