Category: crime & punishment

It is pretty horrible that someone would abuse a 16 month old child to death:

The horrific death of a 16-month-old allegedly abused by her adoptive parents has triggered an outpouring of grief nationwide and anger over many missed chances to save her.

The girl, named Jung-in, died at a hospital in western Seoul on Oct. 13, hours after she was taken to the hospital by her adoptive mother.

The National Forensic Service concluded that she died of severe abdominal injuries and internal bleeding that were caused by “strong external force applied on her back.” Signs of prolonged abuse, such as fractured bones and bruises, were also found on her once-healthy body.

Last month, prosecutors charged the adoptive mother, surnamed Jang, with child abuse resulting in death, emotional abuse and neglect. She has been in pretrial detention. The adoptive father was charged with child abuse and neglect.

Jung-in’s case has gained renewed national attention after SBS, a local broadcaster, aired an investigative report over the weekend to reveal the utter brutality of the abuse done to the toddler, and how child welfare agencies and police have squandered golden chances that could have saved her life.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but this was one of those classic cases of all the warning signs being there, but authorities were not willing to do anything about it.

This is part of the reason why the Moon administration has been going after Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl because he had his prosecutors investigate this corruption:

Former Justice Minister Cho Kuk’s wife was sentenced by a Seoul court on Wednesday to imprisonment of four years for academic fraud.

The Seoul Central District Court handed down the jail sentence, together with a fine of 500 million won (US$451,000), to Chung Kyung-sim, the wife of the former presidential secretary for civil affairs and a close aide to President Moon Jae-in.

The court also ordered the immediate imprisonment of Chung.

Chung was indicted in November last year on 15 counts of charges related to her daughter’s college admission and her dubious investment in a private equity fund (PEF).

Chung is accused of being involved in fabricating documentation from 2013-2014, including a college presidential citation, in order to get her daughter admitted to medical school.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but I doubt that she will do four years in jail. She will get her sentenced reduced probably on appeal as things tend to happen. Her husband Cho Kuk is still under investigation for his role in these corrupt dealings.

Another member of the Moon administration gets away with committing a crime:

 Police are looking into past cases that are similar to the new vice justice minister’s unpunished assault against a taxi driver to determine whether officers took appropriate steps at the time of the incident, a police official said Monday.

Vice Justice Minister Lee Yong-gu has come under fire after it was reported late last week that he got away free following the altercation in early November. 

Lee, who was a lawyer at the time, allegedly grabbed the driver by the collar in an intoxicated state when the man tried to wake him up after arriving at his home in southern Seoul. He was appointed vice minister on Dec. 2. 

“We will once again thoroughly review legal precedents with the help of former jurists, lawyers and senior officials who handled the case at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency,” the official said.

The Seocho Police Station, which has jurisdiction over Lee’s neighborhood, applied charges of assault, a crime not punishable against will, not the heavier charges that apply to assault against a driver in motion.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but can you imagine the reaction if it was a drunk USFK service member that assaulted a cab driver

Yet former President Park was confined before her trial for something far less serious than what this mayor is accused of and in the case of the sexual assault already admitted to doing:

Oh, who was elected in 2018 as a member of the ruling Democratic Party, stepped down as Busan mayor in April after admitting during a live press conference he had sexually assaulted a City Hall employee in his office.  
   
Earlier this week, prosecutors filed a second arrest warrant for Oh after the first request was turned down in June. Prosecutors said they had found new evidence Oh had inappropriate contact with another woman by touching her chin, and attempting to touch other areas of her body on multiple occasions in November and December 2018.    
   
Oh admitted in April to the sexual assault that led to his resignation. At his court hearing Friday, he admitted to the additional assaults, saying “the words of the women are all correct.” The ex-mayor added he did not remember the incidents, but that he apologizes for them.  
   
The presiding judge of the Busan District Court who reviewed Oh’s warrant hearing said there was no reason to put him under pretrial detention as he has accepted the charges and does not pose a flight risk. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but this is why the Moon administration had to suspend the Prosecutor General, to assist his political cronies.

All this guy received was an apology after being locked up for 20 years as an innocent man:

A South Korean man, who was imprisoned for 20 years after being wrongfully convicted of raping and killing a 13-year-old girl in 1988, was acquitted of the crime in a retrial Thursday.

The Suwon District Court in Suwon, south of Seoul, overturned the original conviction of Yoon Seong-yeo, a 53-year-old, and declared him not guilty in a retrial of the 1988 murder case linked to one of the nation’s most notorious serial killings.

The court offered an apology to Yoon on behalf of the judiciary, saying the incorrect ruling of the past was made due to wrongful acts by investigation agencies.

Yoon’s case was classified as the eighth case of 10 serial murders that had occurred between 1986 and 1991 in Hwaseong, a Gyeonggi Province city about 60 kilometers south of Seoul.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

ROK Heads may remember that this guy is a notorious career criminal who used the “I was drunk” defense to have his sentence reduced:

Cho Doo-soon, one of South Korea’s most notorious child rapists in recent memory, was released from prison on Saturday amid strong protests against the heinous criminal’s return to society. 

Cho served a 12-year term for kidnapping and raping an 8-year-old girl in a church bathroom in Ansan, 42 kilometers southwest of Seoul, in December 2008. A huge public outcry has erupted over what has been seen as too lenient a punishment for a horrendous sexual crime against a minor.

He left the correctional facility in southern Seoul early Saturday and returned to his home in Ansan, south of the capital, escorted by probation officers. 

Some of about 150 angry protesters, who waited for his appearance near his residence, threw eggs at Cho when he arrived and shouted slogans calling for him to be executed or expelled from the city.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Horrible story where the mother received little punishment for killing a newborn:

An unregistered Thai woman was given a suspended prison sentence for neglecting her newborn baby, resulting in death, according to a local court, Thursday. 

The Seoul Eastern District Court sentenced the 37-year-old woman to a two-year prison term suspended for three years for the crime of abandonment of an infant resulting in death.

The woman delivered the baby at around 8 p.m., Mar. 29, in Gwanak District, Seoul, alone without medical assistance. The baby died around two hours later as she neglected the infant without giving it sufficient care including failing to clear amniotic fluid from the baby’s nose and mouth. 

It was found during the police investigation that she had been staying in the country illegally, and therefore did not contact the police nor take the baby to the emergency room, out of concern that her illegal stay would be revealed. 

Regarding the baby’s father, the accused stated that she had become pregnant with one of her clients at a massage shop where she was working. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It is good to see at least some common sense prevailed in this instance of self defense in South Korea:

A South Korean woman has been cleared of criminal wrongdoing after her alleged rapist accused her of “excessive self-defence” for biting off part of his tongue. 

Police in the southern port city of Busan said they did not find any legal grounds to charge the woman in her 20s who bit off approximately three centimetres of the man’s tongue, reported the Korea Times.

The man, in his 30s, had allegedly found the woman in a drunken state on the street and offered to take her to her hotel, but he is accused of driving instead to a deserted spot and then sexually assaulting her. 

He is said to have reported his injury to the police station but officers gathered to evidence from surveillance cameras and the dashboard camera of his car and recommended he be indicted for illegal confinement and sexual assault. 

“Although her actions exceeded normal limits of self defence, based on discussions with external experts and lawyers, we came to the conclusion that it can be justified according to Article 21 of the Criminal Law Act,” the Times quoted an officer as saying. 

The Telegraph

You can read more at the link, but this is something soldiers have to consistently reminded of, you have little expectation to self defense in South Korea. For example a soldier was assaulted and had a metal pole smashed across his face by a group of Koreans and he had to pay $9,000 in restitution to the people that attacked him because he defended himself.

Other examples of the negative consequences of defending yourself can be seen with the 2004 Shinchon Stabbing Incident or the 1995 Seoul Subway Brawl.  In these cases the GIs were punished for defending themselves while the Koreans that started the fights got away with no legal consequences. This is why I have always said it is best to swallow your pride and walk away from confrontations with Koreans.

The Stars & Stripes article doesn’t mention it, but this Marine lieutenant colonel had his O6 promotion pulled from him. That is a massive loss of pay and eventual retirement money each month lost because of his stupidity:

A Marine lieutenant colonel found guilty of stealing hundreds of dollars in merchandise from a base exchange in South Korea has escaped punishment, according to a published report.

Lt. Col. Samuel K. Lee, 47, was convicted Sept. 11 at Camp Foster, Okinawa, of two counts of violating Article 121 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, or larceny of non-military property valued at $1,000 or less, the military news website Task & Purpose reported Thursday, citing court records.

Lee, a logistics officer for Marine Forces Korea, stole a 4K ultra high definition wire-free security camera system, Apple Airpods with a wireless charging system, Bose noise-canceling headphones and Estee Lauder ReNutriv Ultimate Diamond energy cream between Nov. 1, 2019, and March 8, 2020, according to the report, which cited Marine officials with knowledge of the charges.

A conviction for theft at or under $1,000 could bring a bad conduct discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances and confinement for one year, according to the manual on courts martial.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link as well as over at Task and Purpose that originally published this story.

It is incredible that this murderer and child rapist will be released back into Korean society:

Notorious child rapist Cho Doo-soon’s upcoming release, scheduled for Dec. 13, is making the public nervous. Calls are mounting to keep him in prison forever, but will it be possible?

Below are some questions and answers about Cho and why it is so difficult to keep him behind bars within the current legal boundaries: 

What has he done?
In 2008, Cho, then 57, violently raped an 8-year-old girl in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province. After kidnapping the victim on her way to school, Cho took her to a church restroom. He choked, beat and brutally raped her. The victim was left with severe injuries which resulted in permanent internal damage. Cho was sentenced to 12 years in prison. 

He has 17 other criminal convictions dating from 1970, including sexual offenses and murder. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but residents an the government of Ansan is fighting to stop Cho’s imminent release. Cho is reportedly planning to live somewhere in Ansan. If anyone is wondering why he received such a lenient 12 year sentence, he used the “I was drunk” defense so many Korean criminals use to reduce their sentences.