SEOUL - A SOUTH Korean serial killer who admitted killing seven women since 2006 has now confessed to an eighth victim, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

The district prosecutors' office in the city of Suweon just south of Seoul said investigators are exhuming a corpse believed to be that of a woman murdered in September 2006.

They said Kang Ho-Sun, 38, had confessed he killed the 23-year-old in the northeastern province of Gangwon about 11 hours after kidnapping her while she was on her way to work.

She was his first victim, he said, according to Yonhap news agency.

Kang, arrested last month on suspicion of kidnapping and murdering a female university student, has previously admitted killing the student and six other women.

Five of them went missing in a two-month period between December 2006 and January 2007.

Police say Kang met his victims in karaoke bars or picked them up from isolated bus stops. Investigators have described him as a typical psychopath who feels no remorse.

The case has sparked calls for the imposition of the death penalty, which remains on the statute books despite a moratorium on its use since 1997.

Fearful women have been stocking up on pepper sprays and personal alarms. -- AFP