This is just another example that South Korea does not have freedom of speech because of its libel laws:
Civic activists take part in a press conference at the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on Mar. 21. (by Kim Bong-kyu, staff photographer)
“T,” a Liberian-born resident of Gyeonggi Province married to a South Korean, had an unpleasant experience while riding a bus in Nov. 2016. The passenger in the seat next to her, a man in his sixties surnamed Kim, began harassing T. When passengers tried to stop him, Kim pointed at T and said, “It’s illegal for this girl to be here.” T was not an undocumented foreigner, but a South Korean resident with an F6 (marriage) visa. In Kim’s eyes, however, all foreigners were seen as undocumented migrant workers. T brought her experience up during the Q&A session at a symposium held that Nov. 30 by the Gyeonggi Institute of Research and Development for Migrants’ Human Rights on the topic of racial discrimination and policy measures for its reduction.
One of the symposium’s discussants, attorney Choi Jeong-gyu of the law firm Wongok, took an interest in T’s story. Choi decided to represent T in a defamation complaint against Kim. It wasn’t easy: Kim kept denying all charges during the police questioning stages, and while the police recognized the incident as a case of harassment in a crowded public setting according to the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment, etc., of Sexual Crimes, they forwarded the case to prosecutors with a recommendation not to press defamation charges. However, in April, the prosecutors delivered Kim for trial on charges of both harassment and defamation.
Judge Hon. Kim Do-hyeong of the eighth criminal division of Suwon District Court’s Ansan branch found Kim guilty on both charges last May and sentenced him to a fine of 2 million won (US$1,840). “In November 2016, the defendant boarded a bus and engaged in harassment while talking to the victim, who was sitting next to him,” the court concluded. “When stopped by other passengers, he declared that it was ‘illegal for this girl to be here,’ and he continued insulting the victim with abusive language even after disembarking.” [Hankyoreh]
You can read more at the link, but this guy was clearly a jerk for harassing this woman minding her own business on the bus.
It seems to me having your daughter go missing under your care is worse than having an accidental death due to choking:
Police on Friday found the body of a 5-year-old missing girl on a hillside in the western coastal city of Gunsan following her father’s confession to having disposed of it, officials said.
The Jeonbuk Provincial Police Agency said that at 4:45 a.m., the body of Koh Jun-hee was discovered wrapped in a towel under a tree on the hillside, about a 50-minute drive from where she stayed. She was reported to have gone missing a little over three weeks ago.
The investigation into the case gained traction as her 36-year-old father, who was put under emergency arrest, confessed Thursday to having dumped her body on a hill in the city 270 kilometers south of Seoul in April.
Based on the father’s statement, police presume that Koh died because she choked on food. Her father has said that he concealed her death for fear that it would cause trouble in his divorce settlement with her birth mother.
Police plan to examine her body to find out the exact cause of death, officials said. [Korea Times]
I never thought I would see the face of Gregory McQueen gracing the pages of the Stars & Stripes ever again after his conviction for trying to be a pimp at Ft. Hood, but I was wrong:
Gregory McQueen
On paper, Gregory McQueen must have seemed like a great candidate to become a foster-care parent in Texas.
A married man and Army veteran, McQueen had served as battalion representative on a task force to prevent sexual harassment at Fort Hood in central Texas.
But some important information didn’t show up in a state background check before a foster-care agency hired McQueen and his wife last March to care for abused and neglected children
Two years ago, former Army 1st Sgt. McQueen pleaded guilty to more than a dozen military charges for attempting to run a prostitution ring in Fort Hood. As part of the plea deal he was demoted to private, sentenced to 24 months in prison, was stripped of his retirement pay and received a dishonorable discharge. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but I would hope the Defense Department is aggressively pursuing the updating of national databases because clearly people like McQueen should not be a foster parent. With that said what kind of background checks are being done when a simple Google search would have exposed McQueen’s background that was highly publicized?
Picture of construction during the Camp Humphreys expansion project.
South Korean prosecutors have raided the offices of one of the nation’s largest conglomerates amid allegations it offered multimillion-dollar kickbacks to the US Army in exchange for construction contracts.
Dozens of investigators were dispatched to the headquarters of SK Engineering and Construction in downtown Seoul on Friday to confiscate computer hard disks, documents and other material related to construction projects at a new US army base in South Korea’s Pyeongtaek county.
The prosecutors are investigating allegations that the company — an affiliate of the nation’s third-largest conglomerate, SK — gave almost $3m to a US army officer in 2010 to steer a $420m dollar construction contract in its favour.
The officer, Duane Nishiie of the US Army Engineers Corp, was indicted in September in Hawaii on charges including bribery, wire fraud and money laundering related to the case. Lee Seung-ju, a former officer in the procurement department of Seoul’s defence ministry, was indicted on the same charges.
SK Engineering and Construction declined to comment. US Forces Korea was not immediately available to comment.
“The raid was needed to look into the bribery claims linked to a US military contract,” the prosecutor in charge of the investigation told the Financial Times. [The Financial Times]
If this woman was able to so easily fool the VA for years to receive benefit money it just makes me wonder how much more fraud is going on?:
A woman faked the birth of a son to collect the veterans benefits for 17 years, according to court documents.
The man who the woman claimed was the father of the child was killed in High Point in 2006.
Elizabeth Hayes Cox, 60, claimed she gave birth to the son of Randall Cox, who was a military veteran receiving Veterans Administration benefits, according to an indictment. Records show she claimed Randall Cox’s benefits should be paid to her for child support, and she fraudulently collected $103,000 in benefits from March 2000 through May of this year. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read the rest at the link, but you would think the VA would ask for something as simple as a birth certificate to prove her claim?
A 55-year-old woman surnamed Lee and her son were both arrested on Thursday for burying her friend alive on her husband’s farm. The two face charges of murder and abandoning a corpse, while Lee’s husband has since committed suicide after police came to search his property.
On July 14, Lee called up her 49-year-old friend for a drive in Seongnam, Gyeonggi. They were longtime friends, having met at a social club in Seongnam over a decade ago. Lee’s 25-year-old son drove while Lee handed her friend a cup of coffee laced with sleeping pills. The mother-and-son pair drove to the farm of Lee’s husband in Cheorwon County, Gangwon, where they buried her friend alive.
Police began investigating the disappearance on Aug. 10, leaving open the possibility that the friend was being held against her will, given the inactivity they saw on her phone and bank account.
In September, police received reports that Lee had met the victim before her disappearance, and were able to confirm that Lee’s son had rented a car and driven to Cheorwon. Last Friday, the court issued an arrest warrant for Lee and Park on suspicion of holding the victim in confinement. Police arrested the two on Nov. 28.
The same day, police went to search the property of Lee’s husband. Though the 62-year-old husband was not regarded as a suspect, he hung himself in a storage room when they arrived, after excusing himself to the bathroom.
Lee and her son confessed to the crime late Tuesday. “She made me look like a thief,” Lee said.
In June last year, the victim had asked Lee to bring her some belongings from the home she was sharing with her abusive partner. But after the victim’s partner reported Lee to the police for larceny, the victim did not defend Lee. Lee was subsequently convicted and fined. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read the rest at the link, but hopefully the mother and son spend a long time in prison because that is a horrible way to die.
Chung Yoo-ra is the 21-year old daughter of Choi Soon-sil who is currently imprisoned for using her connections to ex-President Park Geun-hye to enrich herself. Chung was in the national media spotlight when she was on the run in Europe and ultimately extradited back to South Korea. Since being extradited her arrest led to no new groundbreaking information and was released. It looks like new trouble has found Chung as some guy has apparently tried to murder her:
Chung Yoo-ra
The daughter of Choi Soon-sil, the high-profile confidant of former President Park Geun-hye, avoided possibly being murdered Saturday as police caught a man who had broken into into her home with the alleged intention of killing her.
Chung Yoo-ra, 21, saw a man, identified by his surname Lee, 44, break into her home in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, around 3 p.m.
Lee threatened a security guard at the entrance of her apartment building and forced him to lead him to her suite.Entering her home, he stabbed a man inside.
Police received a report about the break-in and stabbing and arrived at the scene, where they grabbed Lee.The unidentified victim was taken to a hospital where he received a treatment.
During police questioning Lee confessed that he has a monetary issue with Chung. [Korea Times]
Considering this guy’s violent past you would think he would have been locked up long ago before he did something like this:
A man in his 50s who poured gasoline on his ex-girlfriend and set her alight was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
The woman, also in her 50s, suffered serious burns and died of complications two weeks after the incident in March 2016.
The Seoul Southern District Court on Monday found the man guilty of attempted murder.
“It was a premeditated crime,” Judge Shim Gyu-hong said.“The ruling was made after taking into account the nature and circumstances of the crime and his criminal record that indicates there are high chances of him committing another crime.”
He had been convicted more than 20 times for violent acts.
The man lived with the woman for a year in 2005. She dumped him in 2006. He tried unsuccessfully to restore the broken relationship over 11 years.
In March 2016, the man visited the woman at work holding a bag containing a gasoline-filled container and a lighter.When she refused to talk to him, he opened the container, poured the gasoline onto her head and set her on fire. [Korea Times]
What I don’t understand is how is this a conviction for attempted murder when the woman died in the hospital two weeks later? It seems like murder to me.
.jpg?resize=640%2C426)
.jpg?resize=640%2C405)
