Japan Lake Kawaguchi Hotel Death: Tainan Prosecutors Detain Victim's Husband Over Alleged Fake Marriage and NT$30 Million Insurance Plot
FUJIKAWAGUCHIKO, Yamanashi, Japan — The death of a Taiwanese woman at a hotel in this lakeside town has taken a new turn: prosecutors in Tainan, Taiwan, obtained court approval on October 26 to detain the victim's husband. According to Japanese and Taiwanese media reports, prosecutors allege the man, surnamed Li, entered into a fake marriage, took out high-value travel insurance for his wife before the trip, and conspired with a woman traveling in the same group to kill her for the payout. The allegations remain under investigation, and any final determination rests with the courts.
Japanese and Taiwanese media reported that the victim, Ching Yun-jung, 38, of Taiwan, was found dead in a hotel room in Fujikawaguchiko on October 19; an autopsy showed a knife wound to the neck, with blood loss as the cause of death. Yang Minhan, a 27-year-old Taiwanese woman sharing the room, was arrested by Japanese police holding a kitchen knife about 12 centimeters long and has been referred on suspicion of violating Japan's Swords and Firearms Control Law by possessing the knife; she has not been charged with murder. Yang has claimed she killed the victim accidentally while drunk and cannot remember what happened — a claim attributed to Yang herself.
Tainan prosecutors allege that Li married Ching in a fake marriage, persuaded her to travel to Japan alone, and bought two travel insurance policies for her before the trip — NT$10 million and NT$20 million, totaling NT$30 million (about 146 million yen) — and that he conspired with Yang to carry out the killing for the insurance money. Prosecutors say the two had contact records, and their relationship and division of roles remain under investigation.
Li was detained on the evening of October 24 after returning to Taiwan from Japan, according to reports; prosecutors searched seven locations, applied to the court for his detention on October 25, and the Tainan District Court approved the detention on October 26. Taiwanese authorities said they would help the family with follow-up matters, and Japanese police are continuing to investigate how the two women knew each other and the details of the night of the death.
Source: GSM · America
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：日本山梨县河口湖与富士山资料图（Suicasmo 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，Wikimedia Commons）。File photo of Mount Fuji from Lake Kawaguchi in Yamanashi, Japan (by Suicasmo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons).
