Category: crime & punishment

Very convenient that Lee Jae-myung checks himself into a hospital due to his so call hunger strike when prosecutors issue an arrest warrant for him:

Democratic Party of Korea head Rep. Lee Jae-myung, who is on day 19 of his hunger strike against the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, is transferred out of his office on a stretcher Monday morning. (Yonhap)

Rep. Lee Jae-myung, the bedridden leader of the Democratic Party of Korea on a strike against what he calls President Yoon Suk Yeol’s “tyrannical rule,” is wanted by prosecutors on an arrest warrant request for the second time this year.

Seoul prosecutors said Monday they filed a request for an arrest warrant against Lee, who is already a defendant in two corruption trials, on three different counts of accusations.

One is that he colluded with a policy aide while he was mayor of Seongnam to hand favors such as a change in land permits to private developers, allowing them to illicitly profit from a city development project. The second is that he personated a prosecutor, and then asked a witness to testify falsely in court. The last is that he, as governor of Gyeonggi Province, paid North Korean authorities to organize his Pyongyang trip and to negotiate the province’s business deals with North Korea.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

This is a horrible crime that happened over in Yeongam. According to the article the 59-year old farmer was facing a sex crime charge before he and the whole family was found dead:

A couple in their 50s and their three sons with severe disabilities were found dead at their house in the southwestern county of Yeongam, police said Friday.

Police discovered the bodies of the 59-year-old farmer known by his family name Kim, his 56-year-old wife and their three sons in their 20s in the afternoon, after visiting the house following a report from a neighbor that blood stains were found near the windows.

The heavily bleeding bodies were found in two separate rooms and a weapon was found at the scene, according to officials.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Well this guy has self selected himself out of the military:

Police in Seoul arrested an American soldier on suspicion of driving drunk in a stolen minivan in the city early Sunday.

The minivan’s owner reported his Hyundai Staria had disappeared around 4:10 a.m. from its streetside parking spot in the Jongno district, a detective from the district’s police station told Stars and Stripes by phone Monday.

South Korean officials regularly speak to the media on the customary condition of anonymity.

Seoul police pulled the vehicle over less than a half-mile from its parking spot, the detective said. The driver, a U.S. soldier in his 30s under the influence of alcohol, told police he found the keys to the minivan and “accidentally” took the car, the detective said.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

This is a horrible murder over in Gimhae:

A man was arrested on Tuesday after a failed attempt to take his own life after killing his two children.

Gimhae Jungbu Police Station announced Tuesday that a man in his 50s is being investigated on charges of murdering his two children on a hill in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province.

According to the police, the man is suspected of murdering his two children — his 17-year-old daughter and 16-year-old son — in his vehicle.

The daughter’s teacher reported the teenager’s absence from school, and the police found the man at the crime scene at 12:20 p.m. the previous day by tracking the location of his mobile phone. They arrested him at 3:07 p.m.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

This is pretty weird:

Four men were found dead Saturday at a bed and breakfast facility in Bundang, south of Seoul, sending police to investigate the cause of the deaths.

Police received a report from the operator of the lodging service around noon that “four men were left dead in the same room.”

The four in their 30s and 40s reportedly arrived at the lodging establishment the previous evening. Police said no signs of foul play have been found in connection with the deaths so far, adding an investigation will be launched as to how they were related to each other and the exact circumstances of the deaths.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Can you imagine how many US politicians would be sent to jail for defaming former Presidents if Korean defamation laws were implemented in the US?:

Deputy National Assembly Speaker Chung Jin-Suk was convicted Thursday of defaming the honor of late President Roh Moo-hyun with his derisive remarks about Roh’s tragic death.

Judge Park Byung-gon of the Seoul Central District Court sentenced the fifth-term lawmaker of the ruling People Power Party to six months in prison, a ruling heavier than the prosecution’s demand for a fine of 5 million won (US$3,793). He was not taken into custody immediately.

If the sentence is confirmed by the Supreme Court, Chung will lose his parliamentary seat. 

The charges against Chung stem from a post he made on his Facebook account in September 2017, commenting on Roh’s suicide death in May 2009 amid a corruption investigation.

Chung claimed Roh’s wife, Kwon Yang-sook, and their son had received millions of dollars in bribes from a businessman close to the president.

He further claimed that following an investigation by the prosecution into the allegations, a domestic dispute ensued between the couple and she left their home. On that night, Roh, left alone, took his own life, Chung wrote.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Another crazy guy with a mental illness has launched a stabbing attack in South Korea:

A local court issued a warrant Saturday to arrest a man suspected of stabbing a teacher at a high school multiple times.

The Daejeon District Court granted a warrant to formally arrest the suspect in his late 20s on charges of attempted murder, citing the risk of flight.

The man stabbed the teacher, including in the face and chest, at a high school in Daejeon, 139 kilometers south of Seoul on Friday. He was quoted as telling police that he was a student of the teacher in the past, but his claim has yet be verified.

The teacher, 49, underwent urgent surgery after the stabbing, but remains in critical condition.

Police said the suspect was diagnosed with schizophrenia and depression in recent years, but did not receive any treatment.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but with all the media attention these attacks are getting, authorities are worried about copycat attacks now by other mentally ill people.

In the U.S. this crazy guy with a reported mental illness could have gone to Walmart and bought a gun. At least in South Korea the mentally ill can’t purchase a gun to create far larger carnage than what this guy caused with a knife:

A man rammed a car onto a sidewalk Thursday in the South Korean city of Seongnam, then stepped out of the vehicle and began stabbing people at a shopping mall, leaving at least 14 people wounded. 

Just hours after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday called for “ultra-strong” law enforcement measures in response to that attack, police found themselves chasing the suspect in another stabbing incident at a high school in Daejeon city.

Cho Byeong-tae, an official at the Daejeon metropolitan police department, said the attack at Songchon High School left at least one teacher hurt. He did not identify the victim or provide details about the victim’s health. (…..)

Authorities arrested a 22-year-old suspect at the scene and were questioning him. Police did not identify the man or offer any immediate information about a potential motive.

According to Park Gyeong-won, an official at Gyeonggi’s Bundang district police station, the suspect during police interviews talked incoherently and said he was being stalked by an unspecified source. The suspect’s family told police he had a history of mental illness.

Associated Press via a reader tip

You can read more at the link.

Korea has got to make sure they don’t allow drugs to become a major social problem like it has become in many western nations where it drives crime and homelessness:

Korea’s customs agency said Tuesday it has captured a record amount of drugs in the first half of this year, enough to be used by more than 5 million people.

The amount of illegal drugs seized at borders jumped 39 percent on-year to 329 kilograms during the January-June period, according to the data compiled by the Korea Customs Service (KCS).

It is the largest ever figure for any first six months of a year, and the confiscated amount this year can be used by 5.05 million people at the same time.

But the number of smuggling attempts fell 12 percent on-year to 325 cases, as the average volume involved in a single case has grown, the agency added.

The growth in drug smuggling came as Korea tightened its border control, coupled with the growing demand for narcotics here and the subsequent rising prices, the KCS said.

Of the 325 cases, 45.8 percent, or 149 cases, were carried out through international mail, followed by express cargo with 92 cases and air travelers with 81.

By type, methamphetamine accounted for 42.5 percent of the drugs seized, followed by hemp with 25.2 percent and ketamine with 7.3 percent.

By origin, the United States and Thailand accounted for 24.3 percent of the volume, or 80 kg, each, followed by Laos with 11.85 percent and Vietnam with 9.7 percent. China accounted for 5.8 percent, or 19 kg, the data showed. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but I wonder how many of the Americans caught smuggling are the idiots trying to mail themselves marijuana thinking they won’t get caught?