`Flesh trafficking` rumors abound on Web, social networks

“The suspect is believed to have had the intent to supply human flesh for unidentified purposes.”

In the lower court ruling on Oh Won-choon, the suspect in the killing of a 20-something woman in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, in June, the Suwon District Court made this ruling in handing out the death penalty. The judges judged to be credible to an extent the gruesome rumors that the killing "was meant to secure human flesh” as claimed by the victim`s family and Web users.

Due to Oh`s crime, ghostly rumors over human flesh have been widely spread in Korean society. On online bulletins and social network services, Web users are racing to upload writing and photos suggesting that in China, people call Oct. 10 "Double 10 Day," designate it "Human Flesh Day," and eat human flesh, and that ranking Chinese officials come to Korea to eat human flesh, rumors that are absurd at best.

Public anxiety has spread due to the number of ghostly stories snowballing to generate different rumors.

○ Did Oh kill to acquire human flesh?

In the trial for Oh that sparked the rumors, the lower court said, “Oh committed the crime with composure, watching pornography while damaging the victim’s body, and deleted his phone records for the previous two months. He is not believed to have damaged the body for the sake of damaging.”

Oh paid for sex once or twice per month with money he earned working as a day laborer at construction sites, but sent a combined 55 million won (49,000 U.S. dollars) to China over a period of four years and six months. This has fueled speculation that he might have committed human flesh trafficking.

The killer, however, denied that he murdered the woman for her flesh. In an appellate court trial Thursday, Oh said, “I filed an appeal because of the false allegations that I sought human flesh.”

“I only deleted my phone records before committing the crime because I feared that my friends might see my text messages suggesting that I bought sex,” he said, and added, “I earned (the 55 million won) by working hard with my father.”

Several of the suspicions proved to be groundless as Oh claimed. Claims arose that bone parts that seemed to be from human bones were discovered, but the National Forensic Service confirmed that they were chicken bones. More bone parts were discovered afterwards, but police referred all the bones to forensic scientists, who confirmed that they were from animals.

This did not stop rumors from spreading on the Internet, however, especially through the mobile messenger service Kakao Talk. One rumor said more than 200 women would have been killed at the site of Oh’s crime and their flesh would have been sold to a human meat market, according to police.

"We traced the whereabouts of all of the more than 150 women who were reported to police as missing on the route where Oh lived, but all of them were found to be alive and had nothing to do with his crime,” a police source said.

○ Diehard ghostly rumors

The prevailing influence of ghostly rumors remains unabated, however. Not all suspicions have been resolved, and public suspicion remains despite Oh’s excuses.

The cable network Channel A TV aired in July the documentary “Solving Issues Through Logic: Did Oh Won-choon Really Target Human Flesh?” to shed light on the rumors surrounding his crime. The program made the claim that a woman who appeared on a surveillance camera located about 40 meters from the crime scene might have been his accomplice in his alleged pursuit of human flesh.

Yet police said the woman shown on the surveillance record is not believed to be related to the incident, adding, “Since it was nighttime and she was hidden behind an electric pole, it was difficult to identify her and check if she witnessed the incident.”

Also in question is if Oh was paid 90,000 won (81 dollars) per day for day labor. One online user said, “If he worked for 25 days on average per month for 10 months a year except in winter, he would have earned about 20 million won (17,900 dollars). So how could send 10 million won (8,900 dollars) per year (to China) and buy sex but still have 7 million won (6,300 dollars) in his bank account?”

A police source said, “We checked his transactions records through the account and found all of them were done with staff of construction projects,” adding, “Had he circulated human flesh in the market, he should`ve kept the dead body in a freezer. But Oh was keeping his victim`s body in the washing machine.”

Yet police have yet to explain why kept her body parts in 365 plastic bags for easy carrying. Though the weird rumors have proven to be literally “ghost stories,” suspicions could continue to circulate as long as the reason he kept her body parts in 365 plastic bags is not clarified and the woman in the surveillance video remains a mystery.

hparks@donga.com dong@donga.com