A South Korean serial killer on death row for murdering 13 people in a two-year killing spree committed suicide in his cell on Sunday, officials said.
Jeong Nam-Gyu, 40, was found hanged with a rope made of plaited plastic bags in his prison cell south of Seoul, the justice ministry said in a statement.
No suicide note was left behind, but the ministry suspected Jeong took his own life "out of anxiety" over his pending execution.
Jeong was convicted in 2007 and sentenced to death for killing 13 people and injuring seven others between January 2004 and April 2006, with many of the victims women and children.
South Korea, which last carried out a death sentence in December 1997, has imposed an unofficial moratorium on executions amid lingering debate over whether to abolish the penalty.
In the face of growing brutal crimes, some ruling party lawmakers have stepped up campaigns calling for the use of the death penalty to be resumed.
