Following the murder of a Chinese female international student in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, voices in China are also demanding severe punishment, even calling for the death penalty.

After news broke about the death of a missing 20-something Chinese female student, surnamed A, related search terms surged to the top of real-time trending lists on Chinese social media, accompanied by a flood of media reports.

Since A, who had visited South Korea to attend a graduation ceremony, went off the grid, posts believed to have been written by her family were posted consecutively on Chinese social media, drawing intense local attention to her whereabouts.

Before the identity of the killer was revealed, local concerns were raised that a "woman living alone in South Korea had been exposed to crime."

However, anger erupted when it was revealed that the culprit was a part-time university lecturer, surnamed Jeong, who is also a Chinese national sharing the same nationality as the victim.

Some local media outlets even sparked controversy by erroneously reporting Jeong's nationality as "South Korean."

Local netizens are demanding severe punishment, posting comments such as, "South Korea hasn't carried out the death penalty for 30 years, so Jeong should be extradited to China for trial," and "He should be executed according to Chinese law."

The Chinese Consulate has also urged South Korean police to conduct a swift and thorough investigation and strictly punish the perpetrator, while stating that it would provide consular assistance to the bereaved family.

Jeong is suspected of murdering A at his residence in Hayang-eup, Gyeongsan, in the early hours of the 20th, before mutilating her body and abandoning the remains in various locations across the country.

He is also accused of filing a false missing person report with the police to disrupt the investigation, dressing in women's clothing using A's attire, traveling to Dongdaegu Station, and turning off A's cell phone.

Reported by Jung Da-eun | Video by Seo Byeong-wook | Graphics by Sumin Lee | Produced by SBS Digital News