Mummified Body Found in Guro: Chinese Man Discharged in August Due to Unpaid Intensive Care Bills

It has been confirmed that a Chinese man in his 50s, whose body was found abandoned and in a mummified state in a residential area in Guro-gu, Seoul, had been hospitalized in an intensive care unit due to a chronic illness prior to his death.

The deceased received treatment for about two weeks and was discharged without being able to pay his hospital bills.

He was later found dead in an empty room next door rather than the room where he resided.

It was confirmed that his cohabitant had already been deported before the time of death.

Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Commissioner Koh Bum-suk made the remarks during a regular press briefing today, stating, "We confirmed his history of receiving inpatient treatment in the intensive care unit in August."

However, an autopsy has been performed, but the exact cause of death has not yet been determined.

The deceased was an undocumented immigrant who entered South Korea in 2011, and his period of stay expired in January 2022.

His cohabitant was also an undocumented immigrant and was confirmed to have departed the country through forced deportation while the deceased was hospitalized in the intensive care unit from August 15 to August 31.

Since the cohabitant was not in the country at the time of the death, police consider the person unrelated to the circumstances surrounding the death.

Police are investigating how the deceased returned to his residence after being discharged, and the circumstances surrounding why his body was discovered in an empty neighboring room instead of his usual room.

When asked if there were circumstances suggesting the man died from isolation rather than homicide, Commissioner Koh replied, "I will share the final cause of death once it comes out," adding, "It is inappropriate to predict and discuss the results at this time."

The body was found wrapped in plastic and newspapers at a garbage disposal area in a residential neighborhood in Guro-dong, Guro-gu, on October 27.

Police urgently arrested a man in his 60s on charges of abandoning a corpse and an 80-year-old multi-family housing landlord on charges of abetting the abandonment.

Police requested arrest warrants for the two suspects on charges of corpse abandonment and abetment of corpse abandonment, respectively, but the court dismissed both requests on October 29, citing no risk of flight or destruction of evidence.

The two individuals admitted to the fact that they abandoned the body during police investigations.

However, the 80-year-old landlord claimed they did not know it was a body, and the man in his 60s also told reporters just before his pre-trial detention hearing, "I thought it was a doll."

Meanwhile, the residence where the deceased lived was registered as a single household on the building registry, but it was reportedly partitioned into 19 separate rooms with only a single shared bathroom outside the building.

Police plan to determine the exact time and circumstances of death based on the final autopsy appraisal results from the National Forensic Service.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.