South Korea Mass Murderer Hangs Himself In Cell

November 22, 2009

South Korea Mass Murderer Hangs Himself In Cell
By REUTERS

Filed at 4:53 a.m. ET

SEOUL (Reuters) - A convicted South Korean mass murderer died on Sunday after hanging himself in his cell, where he spent two years on death row in a country that still has the death penalty but has not conducted an execution in 12 years.

Chung Nam-kyu was sentenced to death for the murder of 13 people, all women and children, in a two-year killing spree beginning in 2004. He was also charged for robbery, assault and rape of 20 other people who survived with injuries.

He was found hanging in his cell on Saturday from a garbage bag and was rushed to hospital where he died of a heart attack a day later, a Justice Ministry official said. Suicide is suspected although no will has been found.

South Korea has not executed a death row inmate since December 1997 when Kim Dae-jung, who had been sentenced to death for treason by a military government, was elected president.

(Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Sugita Katyal)