▲ A suspect suspected of murdering a Chinese graduate student in her 20s is escorted to the Gyeongsan Police Station in Gyeongsangbuk-do.
The 20-year-old female Chinese graduate student at a university in Gyeongsan, Gyeongsangbuk-do, who was found dead five days after losing contact, had reportedly returned to South Korea to attend her commencement ceremony after completing her required coursework when she met with the fatal incident.
According to the university and investigative authorities on the 25th, the victim, surnamed A, had recently studied in the Department of Rehabilitation Therapy at a graduate school in Gyeongsan.
During her studies, A was known to have spent her vacation periods with her family in China, and she reportedly re-entered South Korea on the 14th to attend the degree conferral ceremony.
However, investigations revealed that A lost contact with her family and acquaintances from late in the afternoon on the 20th, the day the commencement ceremony was held.
The missing persons report for A was filed with the Gyeongsan Police at 7:00 PM the following day, the 21st.
According to investigative authorities, A's movements on the day she went missing, as tracked through mobile phone location data, were captured at two locations: a convenience store in front of her graduate school and near Dongdaegu Station.
In response, the Gyeongsan Police requested cooperation from the Daegu Metropolitan Police Agency at 7:30 PM on the day the missing persons report was filed, deploying personnel from the jurisdiction's district division to conduct a field search, but the victim's whereabouts could not be determined.
A was subsequently found dead on this day, five days after going missing, at the residence of a Chinese man in his 30s, surnamed B, in Hayang-eup, Gyeongsan-si.
Police investigation results revealed that the suspect B was the one who first notified the police of A's disappearance on the 21st.
At the time, B reportedly identified himself to the police as the deceased woman's boyfriend and reported, "She said she was going out to Daegu, but I cannot reach her."
Police are primarily focusing on determining the exact time of death of the victim to ascertain whether B filed the missing persons report a day late to throw off the investigation after having already murdered A.
They also plan to conduct an autopsy on A to confirm the cause of death and secure additional evidence related to the crime by searching B's residence and other locations.
A police official stated, "We are investigating B regarding the motive for the crime and the specific details of the incident."
Meanwhile, following the occurrence of this missing persons case, posts appealing for help to find A's whereabouts have continuously appeared on local Chinese social media (SNS).
Students from the same school as A have also posted similar content on domestic social media.
However, it has not been confirmed whether the person identified as the victim on social media is actually A.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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