A teenage girl attempted suicide after repeated sexual assault by a man who threatened to kill her family if she rejected his advances.

Police said yesterday they arrested a suspect in his 30s, identified by his surname Kim, earlier this month. He was sent to the prosecution April 7.

The high school student took a poisonous drug to kill herself in mid-March. She and her younger sister and friends were sexually assaulted more than 10 times over two months.

Her mother reported it to police on March 29. The man had been an acquaintance of the girl's parents for 10 years.

Police came under fire again over their response to the incident. The Seoul police station which first received the mother's complaint refused to open an investigation because the crime occurred in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Provice where the family lives.