No indication of foul play in woman's death at Han River: police

This Dec.17 photo shows the Han River in Seoul. (Yonhap)

South Korean police said Monday that they have found no indications of a crime in the death of a young woman found floating in Han River with a knife lodged in her chest.

In a regular press briefing, a high-ranking official of the National Police Agency said that security camera footage and other evidence showed that it was the victim herself who bought the weapon, and that she did not meet anyone on the day of her death.

"We (the police) will check (the victim's) credit card record, forensic analysis and the complete autopsy reports to determine the exact circumstances of her death," the official said.

Officials did not specify whether or not they believed the death to be a suicide, but added that she seemed to have substantial motivations to take her own life considering circumstantial evidence, including testimonies by the woman's family and her call list.

Police on Jan.6 received a report that there seemed to be a person floating motionless in the Han River, after which they discovered the victim's body near the Olympic Bridge in Seoul's Gwangjin-gu on Jan.6. Initial autopsy report by the National Forensic Service showed the cause of death to be loss of blood from a chest wound.

An investigation confirmed that the victim, who was in her 30s, left her residence around 1 p.m. on that day and arrived at the Han River park by public transportation at around 7:30 p.m.

But the circumstances surrounding her death sparked speculation that it was a homicide. This included the fact that the weapon cleanly penetrated the victim and that there was no trace of a "hesitation wound," something that usually occurs in cases of self-inflicted fatal wounds.

Experts have also pointed out that if the victim had the energy to go into the water after stabbing herself, she is more likely to have drowned before bleeding to death.

Surveillance footage of the site of her death showed that no one approached the area between the time she entered the park at 7:30 p.m. and the time the discovery of her body was reported to the authorities at around 8:07 p.m.

By Yoon Min-sik(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)