A French couple suspected of involvement in the deaths of two newborn babies in Seoul refused to return from France to face investigation, so the case is now in the hands of the French police, South Korean police said Wednesday.
South Korean police have been investigating the case since the husband reported to them on July 23 that he found two frozen babies in a freezer in the couple's apartment in Seoul shortly after returning alone from a vacation in France. The man, a senior engineer at the Seoul branch of an American automobile parts company, and his wife resided in Seoul since 2002.
Police later said the couple are the parents of the babies, citing the results of their DNA tests. They were particularly confident about the results of a test on the wife's DNA because they used a tissue sample in storage at a Seoul obstetrics clinic where she had a hysterectomy in December 2003. A hysterectomy is a surgical operation to remove a woman's womb.
Police suspect the woman gave birth and killed her babies or left them to die at least three years ago.
Under the country's criminal law, she could face up to 10 years of imprisonment if convicted of infanticide.
However, the couple's lawyer dismissed the DNA test results and said he would ask French experts to conduct a DNA test.
On Tuesday, at a news conference in Tours, 230 kilometers southwest of Paris, the French couple denied they were the parents or were involved in infanticide, and declared they had no intention to return to Seoul.
South Korean police wanted to directly question the couple based on their DNA tests.
"Despite their repeated denials, there is no change in the facts that the wife is the mother of the babies and is suspected of abandoning them," a police officer at a Seoul police station in southern Seoul said on condition of anonymity. "But for now, we have no choice but to expect the French investigative authorities to thoroughly investigate the case."
Experts at the National Institute of Scientific Investigation downplayed the French couple's claim as being "not worthy of mentioning." "There is no chance that the results of the DNA tests can be wrong," said Han Myeon-su, a chief DNA expert at the institute.
South Korean police are currently translating all the investigation results into French to send them to their French counterparts, the officer said.
Police are also considering suspending the indictment of the wife until her custody is secured, he added.
But it cannot be ruled out that the case might remain unresolved if France takes a lukewarm attitude toward the investigation, experts said.
Meanwhile, the Seoul office for which the French man works said it thinks that its relations with him are over because he is highly unlikely to return. His five-year working contract with the auto-parts company expires next September.
"We've already asked a realty dealer to end a contract for the house which we rent for him," a company official said, requesting anonymity.
Seoul, Aug. 23 (Yonhap News)
S. Korea hopes France will cooperate in probe of infanticide case |
