Chinese Lecturer Admits All Charges in Daegu Court Over Killing of Chinese Student in South Korea
Daegu, South Korea — A Chinese university lecturer accused of killing a Chinese international student in South Korea admitted all charges against him at a hearing on November 2, Yonhap News Agency reported. At the Daegu District Court's 13th Criminal Division, the defence for Zheng Changsheng, 31, said it admitted the prosecution's charges in full, including murder, damaging, abandoning and concealing a corpse, and obstructing official duties by deceit, and agreed to the evidence submitted by prosecutors. The court has not yet delivered a verdict.
Prosecutors told the hearing that Zheng is also under police investigation for suspected sexual violence against another victim, and that the two cases may be combined for prosecution if conditions are met. The defence argued that the killing was not premeditated and asked for leniency, citing his lack of a criminal record and his cooperation after arrest.
According to the indictment, the victim was a 25-year-old Chinese master's student, identified in reporting only by the pseudonym Wen Wen, who had taken Zheng's classes at the university where he taught. She entered South Korea on August 14 to attend her graduation ceremony. In the early hours of August 20, after a quarrel at Zheng's home in Hayang-eup, Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, he killed her. Prosecutors say he acted out of fear that their relationship would be exposed and cost him his teaching post; he then damaged the body and disposed of remains at multiple locations, dressed in the victim's clothes and carried her phone to Dongdaegu Station to stage her departure, and reported her missing to police while posing as her boyfriend.
Zheng was arrested on August 25. The North Gyeongsang Provincial Police Agency disclosed his name, age and photograph on September 1, and prosecutors indicted him in September. At the first hearing on October 19, the defence reserved its position, saying it had not finished reviewing the case files; the November 2 session was the trial's second hearing.
Source: Yonhap News Agency
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：韩国庆尚北道庆山市市政厅。本案发生在庆山市，审理在大邱地方法院进行。照片：hyolee2，CC BY-SA 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Gyeongsan City Hall in North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. The killing took place in Gyeongsan and the trial is being heard by the Daegu District Court. Photo by hyolee2, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
