Man charged with stabbing high school girl in Suncheon arrested

A man who fatally stabbed an 18-year-old student with a knife as she was walking in downtown Suncheon, South Jeolla, was arrested on Saturday.

Park, who killed a teenage student in downtown Suncheon, South Jeolla, responds to reporters' questions after completing a pre-trial detention hearing at the Suncheon branch of the Gwangju District Court on Saturday morning. [NEWS1]

A man who fatally stabbed an 18-year-old student with a knife as she was walking in downtown Suncheon, South Jeolla, was arrested on Saturday.

On Saturday, the Suncheon branch of the Gwangju District Court issued an arrest warrant for the murderer in his 30s, surnamed Park, calling him a flight risk with no fixed address.

Park is charged with stabbing the victim three times while drunk in a parking lot in Jorye-dong at around 12:44 a.m. on Thursday. He ran from the crime scene when a passerby who saw the crime approached, trying to stop him.

The passerby stated the teenager said, “Save me,” before succumbing to her injuries. The victim was brought to a hospital after the attack but bled to death.

Park later got into an altercation with another passerby while wandering around drunk, which was when police caught him at around 3 a.m. the same day.

The murderer appeared at the court for a pretrial detention hearing on Saturday and told reporters, "I don’t remember since I drank about four bottles of soju."

"Since all the evidence has come out, I will not deny committing the crime," said Park. When asked if he knew the victim, Park said no.

Police are investigating the circumstances, including the possibility the stabbing was an unprovoked crime targeting a complete stranger.

BY KIM MIN-YOUNG [kim.minyoung5@joongang.co.kr]