Murder suspect appears in court

Jackson Bell

A preliminary hearing date has been set for a Burbank man accused of

strangling his wife.

Joong Myung Kim, who is charged with first-degree murder, appeared

in a Burbank courtroom Tuesday dressed in blue prison fatigues and

wearing a rosary around his neck.

Judge Patrick Hegarty ordered Kim to return on Jan. 6 for his

preliminary hearing.

Kim, 53, was arrested July 23 after crashing his car on Interstate

15 between Baker and the Nevada state line. Earlier that day, police

received a 911 call leading them to an apartment in the 600 block of

East Cedar Avenue, where they found Kim’s wife, 45-year-old Young Sun

Cho, dead from an apparent strangulation.

Cho’s 16-year-old daughter and Kim’s 8-year-old grandson were in

the home at the time of the murder, but were sleeping, police said.

Kim remains in L.A. County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail.