30-year mystery solved as South Korea’s worst serial killer likely identified

South Korea’s worst serial killer looks like he has finally been identified after his violent crimes inspired a hit movie and confounded investigators for more than 30 years.

After decades of unsuccessful searching, police believe they have finally made a breakthrough in the infamous “Hwaseong murders” case, announcing that the prime suspect is a man in his 50s who is currently serving a prison sentence for another rape and murder, the Yonhap news agency reports.

The killer carried out a series of rapes and murders that shocked South Korea in the 1980s and early 1990s, when at least 10 women between the ages of 14 and 71 were raped and murdered in Hwaseong, a city southwest of the capital Seoul. 

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Officials said on Wednesday that the prime suspect was identified after the state forensic agency discovered that DNA collected from two of the victims matched with his.  

The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said it will reveal more information about the killer, whose name has not yet been released, at a press conference on Thursday.

Unfortunately for the victim’s families, the killer cannot be prosecuted for the grisly murders as the statute of limitations for the crimes has elapsed.

The notorius case was the main inspiration for the hit film ‘Memories of Murder,’ which is one of the most successful films in the history of South Korean cinema.

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