A member of a crime ring suspected of assaulting a former CEO of Pigeon Corp. was found dead on Tuesday at his house in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.
The man, identified as his family name Oh, was reportedly found with his leather belt wrapped around his neck hanging from a shower head around 3 a.m. He was found by his wife.

No death note or possible third-party activity has been found yet, said the police, who are assuming suicide.

His wife has reportedly testified that Oh, who had been on the run for four months, suddenly showed up two days earlier and drank alcohol continuously.

According to local police, Oh, a mid-ranking member of Mudeungpa, one of the nation’s largest crime rings, had been under pressure since the police set out to arrest him for having allegedly assaulted former Pigeon CEO Lee Eun-wook. Lee was attacked on his way home in Samseong-dong, southern Seoul, on Aug. 5, reportedly upon request from the group’s chairman Lee Yoon-chai in exchange for 300 million won ($250,575).

The group has suffered from internal feuding over the firing of one CEO after another for the past two years. The chairman has accused Lee for leaking corporate confidentialities while the former CEO claimed Pigeon’s recent business difficulties were caused by the chairman’s embezzlement.

By Bae Ji-sook
(baejisook@heraldcorp.com)