Korean killer gets death penalty

Kang Ho-sun was initially arrested for the murder of a student

A South Korean man has been sentenced to death over the murders of 10 people.

Kang Ho-sun was convicted of kidnapping and killing eight women between 2006 and 2008, and of burning to death his wife and mother-in-law in 2005.

Kang, 38, was arrested in January over the murder of a female college student, and later confessed to killing and secretly burying seven other women.

South Korea has the death penalty, but has carried out no executions for more than a decade.

Kang was accused of starting a fire at his house in Ansan, south of Seoul, in 2005 which claimed the lives of his wife and mother-in-law in order to claim life insurance policies on them.

Charge denied

He denied the charges, saying the fire had been accidental and that he had barely escaped with his life.

However, the court in Ansan found Kang - a masseur - guilty of all charges.

His other victims included office workers, karaoke bar workers and university students.

Prosecutors said he had confessed to those killings.

"The defendant mercilessly killed these innocent people only to fulfil his greed or sexual desire," the court said in a verdict released to the media.

It was not known if Kang would appeal against the verdict.