Police have disclosed the identity of a man accused of assaulting and raping a woman on a hiking trail in Seoul's Sillim area last week.

The man, who became a murder suspect after the victim died in hospital two days after the attack, is 30-year-old Choi Yun-jong.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency held a review committee on Wednesday and also unveiled his mug shot taken the previous day with the suspect's consent.

The committee noted the cruelty of the crime, premeditation and attempted rape in a public place that ended in murder in explaining its decision to reveal his identity. It said the disclosure will also serve public interest in terms of effects on preventing similar crimes. 

Choi is accused of brutally attacking the victim in her 30s with brass knuckles and sexually assaulting her on a hillside trail that is connected to a park in the Sillim area in the morning of last Thursday. He was taken into custody on site.

A tentative autopsy result by the National Forensic Service has suggested the victim died from strangulation. Police plan to hand over the suspect to prosecutors on Friday.