Murdered AIDS Victim Left Unattended for 7 Days

The police and the health authority have delayed handling of a murder case of an AIDS victim, avoiding assuming responsibility for the case.

Jungrang Police Precinct in Seoul sought an arrest warrant against 25-year-old Cho on Dec. 12 on a charge of murder and robbery, but failed to investigate the murder scene where an AIDS patient was found dead shedding blood. The police said that the health authority has not been cooperative.

Local police first found the dead body of the murder victim, 42-year-old Hong, on Dec. 6, and during an initial investigation at the crime scene they found out that the victim was an AIDS patient from a bottle of AIDS drug. Without wearing gloves, policemen at the scene were even at the risk of infection.

Then the police asked the National Health Institute for help, but the agency did not send an expert, Jungrang precinct complained.

˝We already informed them that blood of an AIDS patient is not dangerous unless it is infected through an open scar,˝ said NHI. ˝They did not ask us to come to the scene.˝

˝We thought it was just a murder, but later knew that the victim was an AIDS patient and have felt uneasy since then,˝ said a resident in the area. ˝They now say that a local public health center will sterilize the neighborhood on the 13th.˝

According to the police, Cho stabbed Hong about 20 times to death at Hong`s house in Jurang-gu, Seoul at about 7 a.m. on Dec. 6 and stole some 5 million worth of cash, credit cards and accessories.

The police, having found that the two had had sex with about 20 other homosexuals, are now set to summon them for a medical examination.

jameshuh@donga.com