Tag: crime

This is just a horrible story coming out of Pocheon, north of Seoul:

A middle-aged couple was arrested Sunday for allegedly binding their 6-year-old adopted daughter with duct tape for 17 hours and, when she suffocated, burning her body on a mountain.

The couple denied intentionally killing the girl and said she was being punished for being “too gluttonous.”

Police requested a pre-trial detention warrant Monday for the 47-year-old man and his 30-year-old wife on charges of murder, physical abuse, as well as the mutilation and abandonment of a dead body.

A 19-year-old woman living with the couple in Pocheon, Gyeonggi, was also apprehended on the same charges. Police identified the teenager as a daughter of the father’s close friend, who allegedly took some – if not equal – part in the crime.

The three suspects said during police questioning that they habitually struck the child with their bare hands or a fly swatter because she didn’t obey orders.

Last Wednesday night, they allegedly bound the girl up with duct tape and left home, returning 17 hours later to find her struggling to breathe.

The adoptive mother claimed she performed CPR on the child before she took her last breath. The three moved the body to the couple’s car Friday and drove to a nearby mountain. They allegedly burned the body to hide the evidence.   [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more of the details at the link, to include how the police determined the adopted parents killed the girl.

I wonder if this would be like the joint patrols the US military and the ROK police conduct near US military bases?:

South Korea and China will discuss the possibility of stationing Chinese police officials on its southern island of Jeju if the relevant authorities here consider it necessary, Seoul’s foreign ministry said Thursday.

The idea was raised by a South Korean opposition lawmaker earlier this week amid an increase in crimes by Chinese tourists on the popular resort island.

“The issue of stationing Chinese police (on Jeju) will be actively discussed with China after talks with our relevant departments, including the police, and if they so wish,” the ministry said. “Even if the Chinese police are stationed here, they would not be involved in our public safety activities, but only work with us in terms of sharing information on criminals and cooperating on safety issues.”  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Further Reading:

https://www.rokdrop.net/2016/09/should-south-korea-end-visa-waiver-program-for-jeju-island/

Maybe the ROK is taking the approach President Duerte takes for drug dealers and applying it to Chinese fishermen who continue to plague the country’s waters:

Three Chinese fishermen were killed on Thursday in a fire that broke out on their boat when South Korean coastguard men trying to apprehend them for illegal fishing threw flash grenades into a room they were hiding in, a South Korean official said.

Disputes over illegal fishing are an irritant in relations between China and U.S. ally South Korea, even as their economic relations grow close. They also share concern about North Korea’s nuclear weapon and missile programs.

The three men were believed to have suffocated, a coastguard official in the South Korean port city of Mokpo said, adding that the incident was being investigated.

The fire broke out in the boat’s steering room, the official, who is not authorized to speak with media and declined to be identified, told Reuters by telephone.

South Korean authorities were questioning the 14 surviving crew and coastguard members involved in the operation, the official added.

China’s Foreign Ministry said it had lodged a protest with Seoul about the incident.

Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a daily news briefing Beijing was also urging South Korea to hold a “comprehensive and objective” investigation into the incident, along with China.  [Reuters via reader tip]

You can read more at the link, but definitely compared to the past where these fishermen having actually murdered Korean Coast Guard personnel it is clear ROK authorities have taken a more aggressive stance to stop them.

Further Reading:

https://www.rokdrop.net/2014/10/korean-coast-guard-kills-chinese-fishermen-during-raid/

There is a lesson to be learned here, don’t except drinks from strange people you just met:

Police have arrested a man for allegedly drugging a Uzbekistani women and dragging her to a Busan motel to rob her.

Police said that on Sept 13, the man, surnamed Kang, 35, approached the victim at a bus station in Oncheon-dong. He had a vending machine coffee that contained zolpidem, a sedative primarily used for insomnia.

He introduced himself to the woman as a Japanese living in Korea. Kang told police he talked with her for about an hour before giving her the coffee. After the woman fell asleep, he dragged her to a nearby hotel and stole her belongings, including a gold bracelet, police said.

Kang also allegedly stole about 10 million won ($9,060) from 12 other victims using a similar method.

Police arrested Kang at a motel in the area after going through security camera footage. [Korea Times]

This crazy leftist should be happy he only received 12 years for his attempted murder of US Ambassador Mark Lippert:

The Korean man who attacked U.S. Ambassador Mark Lippert with a knife last year was sentenced to 12 years in prison for attempted murder by the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

The top court convicted 56-year-old Kim Ki-jong, who slashed the ambassador with a knife during a forum in Seoul on March 5, 2015, for attempted murder, assaulting a foreign envoy and obstruction of duty.

“It is appropriate to uphold the lower court ruling that though it was not completed, he had the intention to murder,” the court said, “taking into consideration the details of the crime and his motive, weapon of choice, the size of the knife and usage, magnitude of the attack, as well as the area attacked and its repetitiveness.”  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

Further Reading:

https://www.rokdrop.net/2015/03/attacker-contacted-a-north-korean-spy-prior-to-slashing-of-us-ambassador/

Here is an update in regards to one of the recent stories of senior military officers getting themselves in serious trouble.  This was the case that was going to be interesting going to trial because his lawyer was using the defense that the adultery regulation in the UCMJ is unfair because it only applies to heterosexual couples.  It would have been interesting to see how that defense would have played out which now we will never know:

The Air Force says a high-ranking officer who was charged with rape has been found dead in his off-base Colorado home.

Colorado Springs police Sgt. Tim Stanke says officers responded to a report of a suicide when they found the body of Col. Eugene Caughey on Sunday. Stanke says police are awaiting autopsy results.

The 46-year-old Caughey had been vice commander of the 50th Space Wing at Schriever Air Force Base outside Colorado Springs. The unit operates key military satellite systems.

Caughey was charged with adultery, indecent filming or photography, dereliction of duty and conduct unbecoming an officer.

Caughey is accused of raping a woman at Schriever Air Force Base, also in Colorado, in late 2014 or early 2015 while “holding her against the wall and floor using physical strength or violence,” court documents stated.

Prosecutors also accused him of photographing his exposed genitals while in uniform and groping women twice.

His court-martial was scheduled for Oct. 17.  [CBS News]

You can read more at the link.

With all the recent major crimes being committed on Jeju island some resident want to see the visa waiver program ended to better ensure public safety:

In line with the rise, the number of foreign tourists who commit crimes at one of the country’s most popular tourist sites has also increased.

The Jeju Provincial Police Agency said 347 foreign offenders have been arrested on Jeju as of July. The figure is up by nearly 60 percent from the number tallied in the same period last year, which stood at 218.

Among the 347 foreigners, Chinese nationals accounted for the largest proportion of offenders with 240, or 69.2 percent, followed by Americans with 13.

Reflecting such trends, calls to beef up security by local residents have been rising.

More than 14,500 people have signed a petition filed at a bulletin board of local Internet portal Daum as of Tuesday since it was first proposed on Sunday.

“The country’s precious island of Jeju has turned into a lawless zone with Chinese tourists who enter without visas,” the netizen who first proposed the petition said. “The safety of South Koreans should be given top priority than what can be earned from tourism.”  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Here is another story of someone from China committing a crime against a Korean national on Jeju:

A Chinese man suspected of attacking an elderly woman with a lethal weapon at a Catholic church in Jeju was arrested on Saturday, police said.

The 50-year-old man, whose identity was withheld by police, was hiding at an unidentified place in Seoguipo on the southern resort island of Jeju when police nabbed him, the Jeju Seobu Police Station said. The place is some 40 kilometers away from the scene of the incident.

He has since been under probe on attempted murder charges, they added.

The Chinese man fled the scene after stabbing the chest and abdomen of a 61-year-old Korean woman who was praying inside a Catholic church in Jeju alone at about 8:45 a.m., the police said. The type of weapon used was not specified.

The woman, identified only by her surname Kim, was in critical condition.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but I can’t help but think how much different the media reaction would be in South Korea if a USFK servicemember walked into a church and tried to murder someone like this.

It will be interesting to see how much jail time this guy gets for his illegal organ transplant scheme:

The person responsible for 87 illegal organs transplant cases was arrested by the police, putting an end to eight years of hiding in China.
During that time, South Korean patients were supplied organs from deceased Chinese, some of whom were victims of accidents or executed convicts.

The Busan Metropolitan Police reported Monday the suspect, identified by his surname Kim, was arrested and charged with brokering an illegal organs trade with his Chinese partners in China.

Kim, 43, arranged a total of 87 illegal organ transplant surgeries between June 2006 and February 2011 by opening an online community site, which he advertised as a community forum for patients in need of organs transplant. By luring potential clients who were ailing from illnesses such as chronic renal insufficiency and liver cancer to his online site, Kim was found to have brokered illegal transplant surgeries worth around 6 billion won ($5.3 million) in total.

Kim pocketed 600 million won, the police discovered.

The police said Kim led the illegal campaign by arraigning schedules and locations for surgeries. In most cases, organs came from Chinese convicts just executed on death row or Chinese people killed in accidents. Among the 87 cases, six involved organs from live donors. Details as to how the suspect kept in touch with his associates in China were not disclosed.

The police added Kim had stayed in China since 2008 as an illegal alien and avoided arrest. After eight years of living in self-imposed exile, Kim, possibly exhausted from years of laying low, contacted police in South Korea in June and expressed his intention to turn himself in. He was arrested upon his arrival last month at Gimpo International Airport.   [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

This is a pretty bad attack considering this woman has signs of bleeding in her brain:

Police have arrested eight Chinese tourists on Jeju Island for allegedly bashing four Koreans, including a restaurant owner.

The tourists ― six men and two women ― were arrested Saturday for allegedly assaulting and injuring the Korean restaurant owner and three others, Jeju Seobu Police Station said on Monday.

The incident happened at the restaurant in the Yeondong district of Jeju.

Police said the tourists became angry when the restaurant owner, surnamed Ahn, 53, stopped them from drinking alcohol they had brought with them. They had placed their order but then decided to leave.

The tourists allegedly attacked the owner when she asked them to pay for the food. Police said they kicked her in the stomach and attempted to attack her with a bottle of alcohol.

The tourists were also accused of beating three others in the restaurant who tried to stop them, including Ahn’s son.

Ahn is being treated in hospital after signs of bleeding into her brain. Another victim is suffering facial fractures. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but I wonder if the Chinese embassy will get involved and do everything they can to protect these thugs from being punished like they did when Chinese went on a rampage in Seoul in 2008 brutally beating Koreans in the streets.