Korean true crime fan who murdered stranger 'out of curiosity' could be first to be executed since 1997

A young woman who murdered an English tutor could face the capital punishment for her crime.

Jung Yoo-jung, 23, from South Korea, has been described as a true crime fan was allegedly fixated with the prospect of murdering someone herself 'out of curiosity'.

Prosecutors say that earlier this year, Jung spent months on an app looking for an English tutor and had contacted more than 50 people.

Favoring women, the 23-year-old asked if they conducted lessons from their home.

In May, while posing as a mom looking for a tutor for her daughter, Jung reached out to a 26-year-old woman offering lessons in the city of Busan.

She then showed up to the tutor's home dressed as a schoolgirl, and proceeded to brutally murder her.

Jung is said to have stabbed the woman over 100 times, even continuing the attack after she'd died.

After murdering her, Jung dismembered the tutor's body, put it in a suitcase, and got a taxi to a remote parkland near a river in north of Busan to discard of her remains.

But the taxi driver noticed the blood-soaked suitcase and altered the authorities.

BUSNAN POLICE

Jung was later arrested and has since been sentenced to life in prison today (November 24).

She admitted to her crimes in June, with a police spokesperson going on to label the 23-year-old as being 'obsessed' with true crime.

They said: "Jung was found to have premeditated the crime driven by a desire to kill someone after she became obsessed with murder from TV programs and books."

While she'll be behind bars for a very long time, prosecutors are said to be calling for the death penalty.

The country last carried out capital punishment in 1997, while the last person to be given a death sentence was in 2018.

As of March of this year, there were 59 inmates on death row in South Korea's prisons. A bill was put forward in 2015 calling to abolish the death penalty, but it failed to pass.

There have since been more campaigns to have it abolished, with Human Rights Society penning a letter to President of the Republic of Korea, Yoon Suk-yeol, in March.

Insung Jeon/Getty

Part of the letter reads: "We recall that the use of the death penalty is inconsistent with South Korea’s international legal obligation to respect fundamental human rights, including the right to life.

"With 59 persons still on the death row, including Won Eon-shik who has been under the death sentence for almost 30 years since November 23, 1993, South Korea may also be in breach of its international legal obligation to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."

South Korea is one of the 55 countries that still retain and implement the death penalty.

It's unclear if or when a decision will be made regarding the calls to have Jung put on death row.