Suspect in killing of North Korean defector woman in Paju had already fled country a month earlier

Police have identified a suspect in the killing of a North Korean defector woman in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, but the man had already left the country well before investigators zeroed in on him.

According to Yonhap, the body of a woman in her 30s — identified only by the surname initial A — was found in an apartment in Wadong-dong, Paju, on the morning of Sept. 9. A was a North Korean defector.

An autopsy revealed signs of foul play despite severe decomposition of the body, leading police to identify her romantic partner, a fellow defector identified only as B, as the prime suspect.

B had already left Korea in early August, police confirmed. Based on the degree of decomposition, investigators believe the killing took place around the same time.

Once B was identified as a suspect, police moved to invalidate his passport, set up an alert for his return to Korea, restrict any new passport issuance and issue an Interpol red notice.

Even these basic investigative steps require coordination with domestic agencies, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as international bodies such as Interpol, meaning the procedures take time.

With B having been abroad for more than a month before the measures were put in place, concerns are growing that an arrest will be difficult.

If B has moved on to a third country with limited law enforcement cooperation with South Korea — or, however unlikely, returned to North Korea — apprehending him could prove nearly impossible.

A, who defected in December last year, had little contact with neighbors or other members of the defector community. Her death went unnoticed for more than a month, with neither the local community nor the defector network aware she had died.

A was designated a protected person, meaning police were required to check on her once a month. But that protocol broke down: the officer assigned to her last met with her on July 21 and made no contact in August.

It was only this month, after repeated attempts to reach A went unanswered, that the officer visited her home and found her dead.

Police said A had been strongly reluctant to meet in person and had told the officer she would reach out if she needed to discuss anything, and that the officer had been waiting for her to do so.

It also emerged that the officer was responsible for more than 60 North Korean defectors at the station, making regular oversight difficult.

The Gyeonggi Northern Police Agency has launched an internal investigation into the officer assigned to A.