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The bodies of two infants have been found in the freezer of a villa in the predominately French Seorae Village in the Seocho-gu area of Seoul. A French citizen identified as C was reported as discovering the bodies wrapped in plastic when he was about to place a delivery of mackerel in the outdoor freezer on Sunday. The newborns with umbilical cord still attached were frozen solid, police said. C reported the discovery to police through a colleague at around noon on Sunday.
Police said C works for a foreign auto parts maker and had lived in the 260 sq.m villa with his wife and two children since August last year. The family left for a two-month vacation in late June but C returned alone on July 18 to attend a meeting. A police officer said a preliminary postmortem by the National Institute of Scientific Investigation was unable to determine based on appearances whether the children are Asian or Caucasian or whether they are twins. DNA tests will take at least a week. The officer said there were no external injuries, so it was unclear whether the newborns froze to death or died before being entombed in the freezer.
""Considering that the umbilical cord was rather raggedly cut at a length of 20-30 cm, it seems that the children did not undergo a normal hospital delivery," the officer said. Police assume the children may have been disposed of this way because they were born out of wedlock. There were no signs of forced entry.
The find presents a puzzle since the villa is equipped with a security system and is thus difficult to access for outsiders. Only a middle-aged Filipina maid and a French friend besides the family have a security card and key -- both, according to C, out of the country. But the month's electricity usage of 520 kW at the villa was slightly lower than last month¡¯s 600 kW, raising suspicions that someone may have been living at the house in the family¡¯s absence. Police said they will have to determine if either the maid or a friend stayed at the house.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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