Victim was a Chinese national in his 50s

Entered South Korea in 2011; stay had expired

Roommate departed while victim was hospitalized

A man in his 60s, identified only by his surname Kim, leaves Seoul Southern District Court in Yangcheon-gu on Thursday after attending a pretrial detention hearing on charges of abandoning a mummified body in a residential alley in Guro-gu, Seoul. [Newsis]
A man in his 60s, identified only by his surname Kim, leaves Seoul Southern District Court in Yangcheon-gu on Thursday after attending a pretrial detention hearing on charges of abandoning a mummified body in a residential alley in Guro-gu, Seoul. [Newsis]

A Chinese man in his 50s whose mummified remains were found in a residential neighborhood in Guro-gu, Seoul, had spent 17 days in an intensive care unit before death, police confirmed. The man's roommate left the country while he was hospitalized. Police are investigating the exact circumstances of the death based on autopsy results and records of movements after discharge.

Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Commissioner Ko Beom-seok told a regular press briefing at the agency's headquarters in Jongno-gu on Monday that the victim had been hospitalized in an ICU for 17 days in August and that the exact cause of death had not yet been determined.

According to police, the man, a Chinese national identified only as A, was admitted to hospital on Aug. 15 and discharged on Aug. 31. Police confirmed A had received treatment for a pre-existing condition but have not yet determined when death occurred after discharge. The autopsy also failed to establish a clear cause of death, and police said they plan to determine the cause by combining findings from the on-site examination with the hospitalization records.

A is believed to have returned to the house where A normally lived after being discharged, but the body was found not in the usual room but in an adjacent vacant room. Police are continuing to investigate how A came to die in that room after leaving the hospital.

The roommate left the country while A was hospitalized, police said. The roommate's period of authorized stay had also expired.

A had entered South Korea in 2011, and the authorized stay expired in January 2022. Hospital bills incurred during the admission were reportedly left unpaid.

Police arrested two suspects on Tuesday on charges of abandoning a corpse and instigating the act, and applied for arrest warrants. The court rejected the warrants on Thursday. The suspects are said to have told investigators they mistook the body for a doll.

"We plan to determine the cause and circumstances of death by combining the autopsy results with findings gathered during the investigation," a police official said.


newday@heraldcorp.com