Mystery of stolen remains of late top actress goes unsolved

by Joo young Ham
YANGPYEONG, South Korea, Aug. 17 (Yonhap)-- Who stole the ashes of a late top
actress from her tomb?

The urn containing the ashes of Choi Jin-sil, the actress who was called
"Korea's sweetheart," was discovered missing from her grave around 8:10 a.m.
Saturday, the Yangpyeong police station said.
While a police investigation has yielded no clues, several theories on possible
suspects and the whereabouts of the ashes have surfaced. Some experts and police
investigators have suggested a crime ring, ardent fans or mentally ill people
as possible suspects.
A janitor at the cemetery in Yangsuri, Gyeonggi Province, 55km southeast of
Seoul, found two empty soju bottles behind the grave, which had been broken
into, according to police.
But a surveillance camera installed at the cemetery was of no help in solving
the mystery, as it had been broken when recently struck by lightning, said a
policeman.
Choi, one of the most famous actresses in Korean history, hanged herself with a
rope in the bathroom of her apartment in southern Seoul on Oct. 2 last year.
Once the nation's most beloved actress during her heyday in the late 1980s and
the 1990s, Choi was reportedly deeply heartbroken after her divorce from her
husband, a baseball star. She also suffered from malicious online rumors
accusing her of being a heartless private lender.
Koreans were shocked to hear of her suicide, and kept her in their hearts even
10 months after her death.
According to survey results broadcast on TV Saturday by "KBS Entertainment
Weekly," Choi was South Korea's No. 1 entertainment industry newsmaker since
liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945.
Choi topped the broadcaster's poll with 26.9 percent of 12,434 people aged 12-60
voting for her from Aug. 8-10.
As for possible motivations for the crime, experts and police investigators
suggest three different theories: paranoid obsession, accidental behavior of an
ardent fan or just money.
"The suspect could be a person suffering from a mental disorder called
necrophilia or sexual attraction to corpses," said Lee Ung-hyuk, a police
administration professor at Korea National Police University. He added that the
criminal could have just wanted to possess the top star's ashes for some kind of
sexual reasons.
Or it may simply be an impulsive crime.
Professor Lee Soo-jung of Kyonggi University, a prominent criminal psychologist,
places heavy weight on the possibility that the criminal might be an ardent fan
of Choi. She said, "It seems that the person didn't have any particular reason
for taking away the urn."
But some experts, including police investigators, suggest money as the most
plausible motivation for the crime.
Given past examples of the remains of the nation's conglomerate tycoons and
their ancestors being stolen, it is highly likely that the person may want to
demand a massive ransom from the actress's family.
Similar crimes have been reported around the world. For instance, keepsakes of
Elvis Presley and James Dean were once reported missing and sold later for high
prices on illegal markets.
The bereaved family members of the late Michael Jackson recently refused to
unveil the location of his grave, fearing that objects related to him might be
stolen.
The family of Choi said the crime is tantamount to killing her one more time.
Choi's mother desperately urged the criminal to return her daughter's ashes,
saying, "I won't seek any legal punishment against you (the criminal) if the urn
is returned safely. Can't you just let the poor thing rest in peace?"
mypyco@yna.co.kr
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