SEOUL (KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - A 56-year-old suspect has admitted to a series of rape-murders from over 30 years ago and other unsolved crimes from around the same time.

Lee Chun-jae confessed to the nine rape-murders that took place between 1986 and 1991 in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi province, as well as five additional murders and about 30 rapes and attempted rapes, Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said in a press briefing on Wednesday (Oct 2).

Lee's admission came 13 days after he was identified by police as a prime suspect in the high-profile cold case after DNA analysis matched him to three of the murders. Test results that came out last week matched his DNA to another of the serial murders.

A team of veteran profilers have questioned Lee nine times at Busan Prison, where he is serving a life term for the rape and murder of his sister-in-law.

However, police said that due to irregularities in Lee's account of the crimes, they are in the process of verifying his claims.

In what is known as the Hwaseong serial murder case, at least nine women, whose ages ranged from early teens to 70s, were killed in a five-year crime spree in the rural city south of Seoul.