Stalking victim reported crime twice before being killed — police took no protective action

A woman in her 50s who had reported stalking to police in Gongju, South Chungcheong Province, had been carrying a self-defense gas gun out of fear for her safety before she was killed, it has emerged. She had filed two separate stalking complaints with police, but no protective measures were taken on either occasion.

The victim, identified only as A, had been carrying the gas gun since April, driven by anxiety over repeated approaches and threats from a man identified as B, according to a Hankook Ilbo report. She was found dead in a parked vehicle on a national highway in Asan on Tuesday.

Her family said several acquaintances had seen B carrying a knife. "We were always worried something terrible would happen," the family said.

A had run a bar in Gongju and first met B, a day laborer from Asan, as a customer in 2024. Despite her repeated rejections, B followed her to the vicinity of her home.

A ultimately filed a stalking complaint with police in January, reporting that B had been following her.

Police determined the matter was minor and the risk low, issued B a warning and closed the case on the spot.

In June, another report was filed after neighbors heard the two arguing.

Police investigated the matter as a dating violence case, taking into account the prior complaint, but closed it without referral to prosecutors after A and B said they had reconciled and that neither wanted punishment nor safety measures. It remains unclear whether police conducted a comprehensive risk assessment that factored in the earlier stalking complaint.

A's family argues that even if she had said she did not want B punished, the repeated complaints should have prompted police to reassess the danger and consider imposing protective measures on their own authority.

Meanwhile, on Sunday — the day of the incident — A left her home in Gongju with B at around 11:30 a.m. Her last contact with her family was a text message to her younger sibling at around 12:42 p.m. that day, saying, "I'm heading home."

She was found dead in the passenger seat of a parked vehicle on a national highway in Asan at around 4 a.m. Tuesday. B, who was in the driver's seat, was found having ingested poison and was taken to a hospital, where he is receiving treatment.

Police said they plan to investigate the full circumstances of the incident and B's motive once he has recovered.