Tag: crime

I feel bad for SSG Black’s family, but as the saying goes play stupid games, win stupid prizes and he got quite the prize:

A court in Russia’s far eastern city of Vladivostok on Wednesday convicted a visiting American soldier of stealing and making threats of murder, and it sentenced him to three years and nine months in prison. Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, flew to the Pacific port city to see his girlfriend and was arrested last month after she accused him of stealing from her, according to U.S. officials and Russian authorities.

Russia’s state news agencies Tass and RIA Novosti reported that the judge in Pervomaisky District Court in Vladivostok also ordered Black to pay 10,000 rubles ($115) in damages. Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of four years and eight months in prison.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest on the U.S. Army NCO jailed in Russia:

A U.S. soldier, stationed in South Korea but detained in Russia on suspicion of stealing from his girlfriend and threatening to kill her, went on trial on Thursday, the state news agency RIA reported. Gordon Black was detained on May 2 in Vladivostok in Russia’s far east on suspicion of stealing from his Russian girlfriend.

Citing local prosecutors, Russian independent media reported he had also subsequently been charged with threatening to kill her. Black, a U.S. Army staff sergeant posted at Camp Humphreys outside Seoul, pleaded guilty to theft in May, RIA reported at the time, citing interior ministry officials.

Stars & Stripes

Here is also more details on what he is alleged to have done:

Prosecutors said the couple had quarrelled and the American had subsequently “forcibly grabbed the girl by the neck, which she perceived as a real threat to her life.” Black is then alleged to have stolen 10,000 roubles ($110) from her purse and fled their shared apartment, according to media reports. He was later arrested at a local hotel, where he had purchased plane tickets and intended to fly back to the U.S.

You can read more at the link, but the more I read about this case the more likely to me that this was not some kid of honey trap and instead this guy just being an idiot and now facing the consequences of his actions.

Crime may be dropping in Seoul, but the perception apparentlhy is that crime is a growing problem to be concerned about:

The number of crimes in Seoul has been declining, however, anxiety about the issue among residents is increasing, particularly among women and older adults, according to a report released by the Seoul Foundation of Women and Family, Sunday.

The foundation published the report based on data provided by Statistics Korea, which interviewed 3,007 Seoulites aged 20 and older in 2022.

According to the report, the number of crimes in the city declined from 296,178 in 2020 to 279,507 in 2022. The five major violent crimes — murder, robbery, theft, assault and sexual violence — also decreased from 92,679 to 90,339 during that period.

Despite this decline, residents’ sense of safety has not improved. On a scale from 1 (very safe) to 5 (very unsafe), the average score increased slightly from 3.13 in 2020 to 3.17 in 2022, indicating a growing perception of insecurity.

The report highlighted that women feel more anxious than men about potential crimes in their daily lives. On a scale from 1 (feeling very safe) to 10 (feeling very anxious), women scored 6.38 compared to men’s 5.4.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but I think the media highlighting major crimes is probably what feeds into the public’s anxiety.

Somebody must have said something for the Thai police to have found a body in a barrel filled with concrete in a reservoir:

Thailand plans to request South Korea hand over a suspect in the murder of a South Korean tourist and disposal of the body in Pattaya, a local media report said Wednesday. 

Thai authorities are seeking the extradition of one of the three suspects, who was arrested in a provincial county in South Korea on Monday, the Khaosod daily reported quoting a local police official. 

Thai police are investigating the brutal murder case, in which the body of the 34-year-old victim was found in a plastic container filled with cement in a reservoir in Pattaya.

A Bangkok court has also issued arrest warrants for the three suspects on charges of abduction and murder, the news outlet said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

If you are accused of a crime I can understand having protections to your identity. Sometimes people get falsely accused of things and spreading their information online causes them irreparable harm. However, once convicted of a crime there shouldn’t be issues with posting information about the criminal:

Concerns surrounding the disclosure of the personal information of convicted criminals and those suspected of having committed crimes have been mounting in South Korea, sparked by the recent revival of a name-and-shame website known as “Digital Prison,” around four years after it was shut down by South Korean authorities.

The debate was triggered by the unauthorized release of the personal details of a 25-year-old man surnamed Choi, who is accused of stabbing his girlfriend to death on top of a building in the densely populated Gangnam district of Seoul on May 6 at around 5 p.m. Local reports suggested that Choi has admitted to planning the crime.

Choi’s personal information, including his full name, photos, university entrance exam scores, the medical school he was accepted into and social media accounts, rapidly spread across the internet, with Digital Prison pinpointed as the originating platform.

Following the release of Choi’s personal information on Wednesday, Digital Prison published more posts containing the information of several other criminals and those suspected of having committed crimes. These include the personal information of a YouTuber in his 50s who allegedly stabbed a fellow YouTuber near the Busan District Court on Thursday morning on live stream.

Korea Herald

If Korea’ Democratic Party has their way, they want President Yoon’s wife to be in jail with her mother:

The Justice Ministry on Tuesday blocked the early release of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s mother-in-law, who has been serving a one-year prison term for forgery, in its latest round of monthly parole reviews, according to officials close to the matter.

Though Choi Eui-soon, the 77-year-old mother of first lady Kim Keon Hee, was excluded from the latest list of inmates to be released early, she will be reconsidered for next month’s review, under the current law.

Following an hours-long monthly review, the ministry’s Probation and Parole Board decided to “hold off” Choi’s parole, rather than “disallowing” it like they did in February. This allows Choi to be included among the list of inmates eligible for parole review next month, while the previous decision in February had led to her exclusion from the subsequent month’s review held in March.

The ministry has yet to release an official statement on its latest decision.

Choi has been incarcerated at the Dongbu Detention Center in Songpa-gu, southern Seoul since July last year, after an appellate court confirmed her one-year prison sentence for falsifying her bank balance certificate to make it appear as though she had deposited 34.9 billion won ($25.4 million) in the account for a land purchase deal, as well as for purchasing property using other people’s names.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

How would you like to be the commander who got the phone call to come pick up Satan from jail after this crazy incident:

A U.S. Navy sailor accused of slamming into a group of Japanese people in a beach town near Yokosuka Naval Base identified himself afterward as Satan, a Japanese police officer testified Thursday. Petty Officer 2nd Class Daniel Krieger, a logistics specialist assigned to the guided-missile destroyer USS Milius, is charged with four counts of bodily injury.

He pleaded not guilty during his March 8 arraignment at Yokohama District Court’s Yokosuka Branch. Krieger’s attorneys don’t dispute the facts of the July 9, 2022, incident in Zushi, a beach town on Sagami Bay, said Masahiko Goto, who represents the injured parties in a separate civil suit against the sailor. Krieger’s criminal defense lawyers argue the sailor cannot bear responsibility because he was drunk at the time and suffers from a preexisting brain injury, said Goto, whose clients are demanding damages of about $136,000.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

This shows how much times have changed in Korea. Years ago people would not have intervened in fear of getting sued by the assaulter:

A South Korean man who sustained serious injuries while trying to stop an assault of a woman will be designated as a “wounded noble person” by the law and receive state compensation, the city government of Jinju said Monday.

The city government recently granted a model citizen certificate to the man in his 50s, and is preparing for the abovementioned official designation. The Act on Honorable Treatment and Support for Persons Who Died or Were Injured for Public Good stipulates benefits for those who died or were injured while making rescue efforts without any official duty to do so.

One meeting such criteria is defined as a “deceased or wounded noble person” by the act, and can receive compensation, benefits when getting jobs, and can even be buried in the National Cemetery in cases of particularly valuable contributions.

“He sacrificed himself while trying to rescue a citizen, so we (Jinju city) decided that we should help him… In addition to the designation, we will arrange for him to get a new job and help him in other affairs as well,” the city said.

Last November, a 20-something man started attacking a female store convenience store clerk also in her 20s in Hadae-dong, Jinju. The attacker told the victim that he suspected her to be a feminist, based on her short hair, and said “feminists should be beaten up.”

The victim sustained serious injuries, including permanent impairment of her hearing.

The 50-something man was at the site and tried to stop the attacker, but he too sustained serious injuries to his face and shoulder. He had to quit his job due to the trauma from the incident, and has been suffering from financial hardship since then.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

It has been quiet on the GI crime front until this past weekend:

A United States Forces Korea (USFK) service member was arrested after causing an accident while driving under the influence with a stolen vehicle, police said Monday. 
  
According to the Goyang Police Precinct, a USFK soldier in their 20s deployed at a base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, stole a car in Mapo District, western Seoul, between Saturday night and early Sunday. 
  
The soldier drove the stolen car and hit two vehicles, including a truck, while they were waiting for the traffic light to change at 6:17 a.m. Sunday.

Police apprehended the soldier after the crash. 
  
Two people were injured in the accident, according to the police. 
  
The soldier was found to have stolen a parked car, in which the owner left their keys, after drinking alcohol in the Hongdae area.

Joong Ang Ilbo via a reader tip

You can read more at the link.