'Two Men in Their 20s Face Detention Hearing for "Officetel Confinement Murder"'

Decision on Issuance of Arrest Warrant to Be Made This Afternoon

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] Two men in their early 20s, accused of imprisoning a friend and subjecting him to cruel treatment that ultimately led to his death, appeared for a detention hearing.

The Seoul Western District Court conducted a pre-trial detention hearing (warrant substantive examination) for suspects A and B, who are charged with murder, starting at 10:30 a.m. on the 15th, presided over by Judge Jeong In-jae, head of the warrant division.

Arriving at the court around 10:12 a.m., they did not respond to reporters' questions such as "Do you admit to imprisoning and causing death?", "Why did you imprison your friend?", "How did the three of you know each other?", and "Do you feel any remorse?" but headed straight to the courtroom.

Both wore their hats pulled down low and covered their faces completely with masks as they walked quickly.

The police responded to a report around 6 a.m. on the 13th and discovered the victim deceased and naked in an officetel in Yeonnam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul.

The police urgently arrested the two men, who were friends of the victim and living together in the officetel, on charges of negligent homicide by confinement. After confirming that the victim was malnourished and underweight, with signs of physical abuse on the body, the police upgraded the charges to murder and applied for an arrest warrant the day before.

The police requested an autopsy from the National Forensic Service to determine the exact cause of death.

The decision on their detention is expected to be made later this afternoon.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.