Category: crime & punishment

This is pretty atrocious police work and makes you wonder if even today how well these criminals with ankle monitors are being tracked:

A Seoul court on Wednesday ordered the state to pay more than 200 million won (US$162,500) in compensation to family members of a woman killed after an attempted rape by a man wearing an ankle monitor for sexual crimes.

In 2012, the woman in her 30s was murdered by Seo Jin-hwan, who broke into her house in Seoul’s Gwangjin district in an attempt to rape her. It was only later found out by police that Seo had committed a similar crime just 13 days earlier and that he was wearing an electronic ankle monitor at the time.

The family then filed a compensation suit against the state, claiming Seo’s crime could have been prevented if police had properly managed DNA evidence found from the previous crime scene and if his ankle bracelet had been properly monitored.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It has always been pay to play in North Korea, so Lee had to have offered something to visit and it appears the offer was $3 million according to this guy:

An arrested underwear tycoon allegedly said he delivered US$8 million to North Korea in 2019 to help promote Gyeonggi Province’s smart farm project and then Gov. Lee Jae-myung’s visit to the North, informed officials said Tuesday.

Kim Seong-tae, former chairman of underwear maker Ssangbangwool Group, who was nabbed in Thailand in early January after months on the run, reportedly made the controversial remarks during questioning by prosecutors in Suwon, 34 kilometers south of Seoul.

The Suwon District Court issued an arrest warrant for Kim on Jan. 20 on multiple charges, including embezzlement, bribery and the illegal transfer of cash to North Korea.

Previously, Kim told prosecutors that he only handed a total of over $5 million to North Korea on two occasions in 2019 to pursue economic cooperation rights involving the North.

As the prosecution presented other related documents, however, the underwear tycoon reportedly disclosed an additional remittance of $3 million to Pyongyang and the reasons for the cash payment, the officials said.

Kim allegedly said that $5 million was delivered in connection with Gyeonggi Province’s smart farm project in North Korea and the additional $3 million was intended to facilitate Lee’s visit to the North.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but if Lee Jae-myung had won the presidency does anyone think any of this would have come out?

I just don’t understand how idiots like this guy think they are going to get away with doing dumb things like this:

This screenshot from an All Nippon News report shows security camera footage from a car dealer in Iwakuni, Japan, Dec. 3, 2022. (ANN)

A U.S. Marine has met with and apologized to the owner of a vehicle that was stolen and then crashed last month outside this base near Hiroshima, according to a local media report. 

The Marine, who has not been identified by local authorities or the Marine Corps, spent nearly two hours with the victim on Thursday, the local Chugoku newspaper reported the next day. In addition to apologizing, he promised to pay for any damages, the report said.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

I can’t stand people who leave graffiti everywhere. It is great to see the Koreans were able to get him extradited. Too bad they don’t do canings in Korea for graffiti like they do in Singapore:

A suibway car with graffiti. A 27 year-old American and a 28 year-old Italian is suspected of painting the cars last year. [iNCHEON TRANSIT CORPORATION]

The Incheon District Court on Friday started reviewing an arrest warrant request for a 27-year old American accused of breaking into subway garages and spray-painting graffiti on trains last year.    
   
The unnamed American was extradited to Korea on Wednesday from Romania. An Interpol red notice was issued and on Nov. 12, and the American was arrested by local police in Romania.    
   
The American covered his face with a baseball hat, glasses and a face mask in his court appearance Friday.   

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

This could be bad news for opposition leader Lee Jae-myung:

A fugitive underwear tycoon nabbed in Thailand last week in connection with the prosecution’s ongoing investigation into opposition leader Lee Jae-myung’s corruption allegations returned home Tuesday.

Kim Seong-tae, former chairman of underwear maker Ssangbangwool Group, arrived at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, around 8:20 a.m. via an Asiana Airlines flight from Bangkok.

He was apprehended by Thai police at a golf club near Bangkok a week ago, roughly eight months after he fled the country amid several high-profile corruption investigations.

Kim has been long sought after by prosecutors as a key suspect in a number of high-profile corruption investigations, including alleged payment of Lee’s attorney expenses by proxy, suspected embezzlement of company funds and alleged transfer of cash to North Korea.

The 55-year-old Kim, handcuffed and flanked by prosecution investigators, was asked if he had any relationship with Lee, the chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), by reporters at the airport but flatly said he did not know him at all.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This must have been terrifying to find in her boyfriend’s closet:

A man in his 30s was arrested Sunday for murdering and hiding the body of a taxi driver in his 60s in a closet at his home in Paju, Gyeonggi.  
   
“There is a dead body in my boyfriend’s closet at an apartment in Paju,” a caller reported to the 112 emergency hotline around 11:22 a.m. on Sunday.  
   
Earlier that day, the taxi driver’s son called the police at around 3:30 a.m. saying that his father “has been missing for six days” and that he “talked to him on KakaoTalk but it feels like talking to a different person.” 

The police went to the apartment in Paju after the call was made and confirmed that the dead body was the taxi driver.  
   
According to the Ilsan Dongbu Police Precinct, the man was involved in a car crash with the taxi driver while drunk driving at around 11 p.m. on Dec. 20. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

This is why I don’t have cameras inside of my house, they are just too easy to hack:

A hacker in his 30s was arrested on charges of infiltrating built-in home cameras at over 600 different apartment complexes and distributing recorded footage, police said Tuesday.

In South Korea, it is common for internet-connected home security devices with cameras to be installed in apartment complexes. A wall-pad device, which is attached to the wall, can activate other devices inside the house.

The hacker, only identified by his surname Lee, is under suspicion of hacking wall-pad devices of more than 400,000 households in 638 different apartment complexes between August and November of last year, according to the National Police Agency (NPA).

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like President Yoon is about to follow through on one of his campaign promises:

Former President Lee Myung-bak is expected to receive a special pardon later this year as part of President Yoon Suk-yeol’s second round of special pardons.

According to the presidential office, Yoon is expected to grant special pardons at the end of the year. The presidential pardons are likely to be granted on December 28.

The former president is serving a 17-year prison sentence for embezzlement and bribery. Lee, who governed the country from 2008 to 2013, was charged with 16 criminal allegations in 2018 and sentenced in 2020. 

Currently, Lee is out of prison, having been granted a temporary suspension of his sentence due to health issues. He initially filed the request for a three-month temporary suspension in June and then requested an extension for another three months in September. His suspension is set to expire on Dec. 28 at midnight. 

The Ministry of Justice will review the beneficiaries of the pardon on Dec. 20 and the government is expected to announce the official list on Dec. 27 after a Cabinet meeting.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This drunken idiot gets to experience the full extent of the Korean court system:

A member of the United States Forces Korea (USFK) has been arrested after beating up a taxi driver so badly that the victim could not work for a number of days, according to the police in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province on Sunday.

The aggressor’s attack was recorded by a black-box video camera installed inside the taxi at about 1:30 a.m. on Nov. 27. He threw punches at the victim, who is 58 years old, using both arms as the driver took the beating whilst trying to guard his head with his hands.

The American then returned to Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, right across the road from where the incident happened. The aggressor left his wallet on the back seat of the taxi, where his identification card was found. Officers from Seongnam Sujeong Police Station arrived at the scene after the soldier fled the scene. The authorities said that they will call in the aggressor to the police station for questioning.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but the assault happened after the Soldiers credit card was declined for payment. The driver for his part is smartly playing up his injuries as much as possible trying to get as much money from the U.S. military as he can.

This horrible woman will hopefully face justice in New Zealand for allegedly killing her two kids:

A 42-year-old woman, who is suspected of killing her two children, has been extradited to New Zealand. 

According to the Ministry of Justice, Tuesday, the woman, surnamed Lee, is a New Zealand citizen of Korean descent and was handed over along with evidence to the New Zealand authorities the previous day at Incheon International Airport.

The woman came into the spotlight in August after a family in Auckland found the bodies of a 10-year-old girl and a seven-year-old boy in two suitcases they purchased with other “abandoned goods” at an online auction. Police believe that the bodies had been kept there for several years.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.