By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
A man gunned down an 11-year-old boy to cover up his drunk driving and get his driver's license re-instated, according to police Monday. The boy had previously suffered minor injuries after being struck by the man's car.
A police station in Gwangju said the 48-year-old, identified as Lee, confessed to killing the boy, identified as Jeon, using an air rifle on June 4 and abandoning the body on a hillside.
Lee's driver's license was revoked in March 2005 due to drunk driving. Police discovered him driving without a license in September 2007, extending his license suspension for two more years.
``He said he needed to have his driver's license reinstated to make a living,'' a police officer said. "With the suspension period expiring in three months, he was afraid to face a further extension of the period due to the accident, motivating him to kill the boy and cover it up."
After hitting the boy around 8:30 p.m., Lee took the boy to a small hospital to assess his injuries. The hospital sent him to a larger one. According to CCTV, the child was healthy enough to walk on his own. Lee drove his car to an isolated hillside, not to the bigger hospital, and shot the boy.