By Soh Ji-young
Staff Reporter

SEOUL?ollowing the recent suicide of two college students who were members of an on-line suicide group, "contract suicides," in which people employ others to take their lives for them, were found to have been arranged through the Internet, causing shock among the public.
On Dec. l5, police apprehended a l9-year-old, identified only as Yoon, for killing a 29-year-old man after he was hired to kill him.
During police questioning, Yoon said that the victim, named Kim, asked him to kill him last month, saying he "wanted to commit suicide but didn? have the courage." They got to know each other through an Internet site related to suicide.

Yoon told the police that he received l million won from Kim before the crime was committed. "Kim had said he didn? want to live because he couldn? stop thinking of his girlfriend, who died last year," Yoon said to the police.

Yoon was quoted as saying, "Killing him was the best way to help him." Yoon was also found to have attempted to kill two more people, but had failed when they resisted in the end, according to police. A 23-year-old woman living in Taegu visited Yoon in his Suwon home in mid-November and asked Yoon to kill her. "I tried to strangle her but gave up when she seemed to be in so much pain," said Yoon.

A 28-year-old college student, also named Kim, who committed suicide with another student in Kangnung last Dec. l4 after drinking poison, also requested Yoon to kill him. Yoon tried to strangle the deceased Kim last November, but failed when Kim put up a struggle.

Yoon said about l0 people, who he got know through the site, contacted him by e-mail or phone, saying that they wanted to die. But he said that only three people came to him directly.