Category: crime & punishment

It looks like former President Moon may continue the tradition of former Korean presidents going to jail:

Former President Moon Jae-in was indicted without detention Thursday on charges of bribery, according to the Jeonju District Prosecutor’s Office.

Moon has been accused of allowing his former son-in-law to receive preferential treatment in securing a job with an airline. Almost 220 million won ($154,000) in salary and relocation expenses to Thailand were paid between July 2018 and April 2020, which constituted a de facto bribe to the former president, according to the prosecution.

Prosecutors launched an investigation into former President Moon Jae-in’s alleged involvement in the case after Seoul-based civic group Justice People filed a complaint in December 2021, alleging a possible quid pro quo involving Moon, his former son-in-law, identified by the surname Seo, and Lee Sang-jik — a former two-term lawmaker from the then-ruling Democratic Party and founder of budget airline Eastar Jet.

Prosecutors pinpointed Lee as the source of the alleged bribe and confirmed that Seo’s appointment as executive director of Thai Eastar Jet was made despite his lack of airline industry experience and the company’s financial struggles. A separate civil affairs team under Moon’s presidential office was involved in the process, the prosecution claims.

“Seo frequently left his post for extended periods, flew to South Korea or worked remotely. He did not provide proper labor befitting his position as the executive director. But Seo received a monthly salary of 8 million won, almost twice the salary of the airline’s CEO,” the Jeonju District Prosecutor’s Office said in a press release.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but this was clearly a quid pro quo for his son-in-law to get this job he was not qualified for and apparently put little effort into. With that said imagine if the U.S. had the same corruption laws as Korea? Former president Joe Biden would be getting prosecuted for all the money his son has been making off of his dad’s name and position. Instead you have a whole political party and media establishment covering for him.

It sounds like this guy might of walked out of mental hospital to commit this stabbing attack in a Seoul supermarket which tragically led to one woman being killed:

A woman was killed and another wounded Tuesday after a man went on a stabbing rampage in Seoul, police said.

The suspect in his 30s stabbed the two women while wielding a knife at a supermarket near Mia Station in northern Seoul at around 6:20 p.m., according to the police.

One of the victims in her 60s was transported to a nearby hospital in cardiac arrest but later pronounced dead.

The second victim in her 40s is receiving treatment at a hospital, and she is not in critical condition.

The suspect was detained shortly after the incident and is currently under investigation.

The motive behind the attack was not immediately known, and the suspect and the victims were not acquainted, according to the police officials.

The suspect reportedly opened a package containing the weapon inside the supermarket before launching the attack. He was wearing a hospital gown at that time, they added.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I can understand why the police are getting turned around, this would be like the Washington, DC police showing up at the White House and asking the Secret Service to hand over SIPR phones and computers. It is not going happen without a proper security review to release those materials due to classified information on those machines that have nothing to do with the investigation:

A special police investigation team withdraws from its attempt to raid the presidential office in Seoul’s Yongsan district on April 16, 2025, over allegations that former President Yoon Suk Yeol obstructed the execution of a detention warrant early this year.

Police failed to raid the presidential office Wednesday over allegations surrounding former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived martial law bid after a 10-hour standoff with presidential security officials.

The police’s special investigation team presented a warrant to search the presidential office’s secure phone server, and the Presidential Security Service (PSS) office and residence, all in the central Seoul district of Yongsan, earlier in the day, according to officials. 

But security officials blocked their entry, and the presidential office later submitted a statement of disapproval, prompting investigators to leave the scene.

The police said the PSS had instead agreed to voluntarily provide certain materials, including data from the classified phone server.

Police have repeatedly attempted to seize the server records of a secure phone used by Yoon related to his Dec. 3 martial law imposition but have been largely unsuccessful.

By law, military facilities and other areas that handle confidential information cannot be searched or seized without approval from the responsible authority or office.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

With her husband impeached the lawfare against Kim Keon-hee is expected to accelerate:

Throughout Yoon’s nearly three-year presidency, a series of political scandals involving his wife — including allegations of election interference and corruption — faced intense public scrutiny. However, the investigation moved slowly while she was first lady.

The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office has been investigating Kim’s alleged involvement in election interference tied to self-proclaimed political broker Myung Tae-kyun, who was indicted in December for violating the Public Official Election Act.

Prosecutors questioned Myung on Thursday and Friday, a move some observers interpreted as a sign that a formal summons for Kim could be imminent.

Kim is accused of interfering in candidate nominations during the 2022 parliamentary by-elections. 

Yoon and Kim are suspected of receiving opinion polling services from a polling agency effectively run by Myung during the 2022 presidential campaign. In return, they allegedly helped Kim Young-sun, a former lawmaker from the conservative People Power Party, secure the party’s nomination for a parliamentary by-election in Changwon. The former lawmaker is said to have paid Myung for his services.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Drugs are a growing problem in South Korea that hopefully this drug seizure will help to combat:

South Korea’s customs authorities and Coast Guard on Wednesday seized approximately 1 ton of smuggled cocaine on a foreign vessel docked on the country’s east coast, officials said.

The Donghae regional office of the Coast Guard and the Seoul Regional Customs deployed around 90 personnel to search the ship docked at a port in Gangneung after receiving a tip-off from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at around 6:30 a.m.

The FBI had warned that a 32,000-ton carrier suspected of carrying drugs was entering Korean waters on the day, according to the officials.

The Norwegian-flagged vessel is believed to have departed from Mexico and traveled through Ecuador, Panama and China before arriving in Korea.

Authorities discovered 50 boxes each containing about 20 kilograms of cocaine hidden aboard the ship.

The seized drugs have an estimated market value of 500 billion won (US$341.7 million), equivalent to around two million doses.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It is a good day for Lee Jae-myung who many consider the front runner to be the next president of Korea:

An appeals court on Wednesday acquitted opposition leader Lee Jae-myung of lying as a presidential candidate during the 2022 election, overturning a lower court’s sentence of a suspended prison term.

The decision by the Seoul High Court removed a major legal hurdle for Lee, as a suspended prison term, if finalized, would have stripped him of his parliamentary seat and barred him from running in the next presidential election.

The appellate ruling can still be overturned by the Supreme Court.

Yonhap

First of all the law to prosecute politicians for lying seems like one that can be easily weaponized by the political opposition. With that said here is what Lee was accused of lying about:

During the initial trial, the opposition leader was found guilty of lying during a media interview in December 2021 that he did not play golf with the late Kim Moon-ki, a former executive of Seongnam Development Corp., which was behind a corruption-ridden development project in Seongnam, south of Seoul, when Lee was the city’s mayor.

Lee was also found guilty of lying during a parliamentary audit of the Gyeonggi provincial government in October 2021 that he was under pressure from the land ministry to rezone the former site of the Korea Food Research Institute in Seongnam.

The site was later developed into apartment complexes by a private developer, and allegations were raised that Lee rezoned the land to give preferential treatment to the company.

In November, the lower court sentenced Lee to one year in prison, suspended for two years, for making false statements in violation of the Public Official Election Act.

In reversing that decision, however, the Seoul High Court said none of the four remarks Lee made during the campaign about allegedly not knowing Kim qualified as false statements. That included the remark about golf.

“He cannot be considered to have lied that they did not play golf, and it is difficult to recognize the remark as false,” the appeals court said.

On the alleged pressure from the land ministry, the court acknowledged that Lee “came under pressure from various angles.”

“His remark that he was threatened with charges of dereliction of duty could be an exaggerated expression of the considerable pressure he felt at the time, but it is difficult to recognize as false,” the court said.

From this article to me it is unclear whether he played golf with Kim Moon-ki and instead of lying about the pressure from the land ministry the appeals court believes he was just exaggerating. That is the area of this law that can be easily weaponized. Politicians exaggerate and bend the truth all the time. Should they be prosecuted everytime they do this?

Fining and deporting him after he pays his fine is probably the proper punishment for this attention seeking idiot:

An American YouTuber known as Johnny Somali, who is currently on trial for offensive behavior, could be deported and banned from reentering South Korea if convicted, a local lawyer said.

The 24-year-old whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael faces three charges, which include obstruction of business and violations of the Minor Offenses Act. He is not physically detained, although he is banned from leaving the country.

Kim Ju-hyeong, a senior attorney at the law firm Majung, who specializes in immigration and industrial accident law, said if he is found guilty of any of the charges, the local immigration office will likely demand he leave the country.

“Foreigners are ordered to leave the country, either voluntarily or forcibly, if their criminal actions result in a fine of more than 3 million won ($2,058). Considering the multiple charges against Ismael and the serious nature of his offenses, it is very unlikely that he will receive a lighter penalty than this,” he said.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

This is a pretty sick guy to not only kill his girlfriend, but continue to live in an apartment where he hid her body in cement on his balcony:

A 58-year-old man has been arrested for the murder of his girlfriend 16 years ago, after her remains were discovered during construction work.

Geoje Police and the Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency said Monday they had arrested the man on suspicion of killing his live-in girlfriend in 2008. The man is accused of fatally striking the victim, who was in her 30s at the time, with a blunt object during an argument on Oct. 10 that year, at their residence in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province.

The suspect then put the body inside a suitcase and hid it on the outdoor balcony next to the rooftop of the building. He then covered the luggage with bricks and poured cement over it to evade discovery.

The crime was uncovered 16 years later when the landlord of the building found the suitcase containing the body while conducting demolition work to prevent water leaks.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

This is a horrible incident over in Daejeon:

 A female teacher in her 40s stabbed an eight-year-old student to death at an elementary school in the central city of Daejeon on Monday and inflicted stab wounds on herself, authorities said.

Earlier, police found the two with stab wounds on the second floor of an elementary school building in Daejeon, 160 kilometers south of Seoul, at around 6 p.m. after the student’s parent reported her missing from an after-school art class.

Rescuers transported the girl to a hospital in an unconscious state, but she later died. The teacher, who sustained stab wounds to the neck and arm, reportedly remained conscious. 

Police later said the teacher admitted to the crime during a subsequent investigation, with officials determining that she might have inflicted the injuries on herself afterward.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the female teacher had a history of depression before the incident and survived the suicide attempt.

Here is an update on the embattled daughter of former President Moon:

Prosecutors on Wednesday indicted former President Moon Jae-in’s daughter without physical detention over alleged drunk driving and illegally operating a house-sharing business.

Moon Da-hye collided with a taxi in Seoul’s Itaewon district while trying to change lanes on Oct 5. Her blood alcohol concentration was measured at 0.149 percent at the time, exceeding the 0.08 percent threshold for driver’s license revocation.

She is also accused of running an Airbnb business without official registration at three locations, comprising a studio apartment and villa in Seoul’s Yeongdeungpo district, and a house on the southern resort island of Jeju.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.