Tag: crime

Just another example of the breakdown of civil society in major U.S. cities:

The corporal that was stabbed said he was too drunk to remember much from the stabbing. Fortunately for him the police have video evidence that shows the getaway car with a good look at the license plate:

A soldier assigned to this Army installation south of Seoul was in stable condition Wednesday after being stabbed in the stomach while drinking at an off-base bar over the weekend, according to local police. (……)

Closed-circuit TV at the bar captured four suspects, two Koreans and two foreigners, fleeing the scene in two cars, nearly colliding with traffic as they made a quick getaway, according to the detective.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

This soldier’s commander must have gave himself a facepalm after getting the phone call about this:

Two people who live and work at Kadena Air Base are suspected of making off with nearly $65,000 in the armed robbery of a currency exchange shop on Okinawa.

The business, which isn’t far from Camp Foster’s front gate, was robbed by two mask-wearing perpetrators about 4 p.m. Tuesday, according to an Okinawa Police spokesman who spoke on a customary condition of anonymity.

One or both of the suspects went behind the shop’s counter while brandishing a knife-like object, threatened an employee and demanded money, the spokesman said. They ran out with $64,700 in Japanese and U.S. currency. No one was injured.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Here is an update on the bizarre video sex case in South Korea:

A man suspected of blackmailing dozens of victims, including minors, into performing violent sex acts and selling the videos in mobile chat rooms was handed over to the prosecution on Wednesday for further investigation.

At least 74 people, including 16 underage girls, are known to have been exploited in the case, widely known as the “Nth room case,” in which prime suspect Cho Ju-bin allegedly lured victims into taking photos and later coerced them into performing more gruesome sex acts.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency sent Cho’s case to the prosecution on charges including violation of the act on the protection of children and youth against sex offenses.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but it looks like someone might have roughed up Cho a bit judging by the picture.

This is a weird case because the victims were allegedly being extorted digitally to do sex acts with no threats of physical force:

President Moon Jae-in called Monday for a thorough investigation into shocking sex crimes against women, including underage girls, in which group chat rooms of the Telegram messenger service were used.

He described the acts of the offenders in the so-called Nth room case as “cruel” behavior that destroyed the lives of victims and said he “feels sympathetic” to the “justifiable” public fury over it.

At least 74 women, including 16 minors, were sexually abused and exploited for several months, as they were virtually enslaved with threats of spreading photos of their naked bodies, according to police. They were forced to photograph or film themselves doing sexual acts, even grotesque ones. Those were shared with a host of viewers in the chat rooms. The number of members, who paid money for the materials, reportedly reaches 260,000.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The Stars & Stripes has an article about the curfew ending and here is a quote from the Provost Marshall on Osan Airbase I found interesting:

“We continue to be disappointed with the actions of a few individuals, mainly soldiers going out and getting into fights at night,” provost marshal Col. John Fivian told Stars and Stripes on Monday at USFK headquarters on Camp Humphreys.

He said problems were more noticeable in South Korea because troops who get into trouble are usually turned over to their commands; in the U.S., they would be dealt with by local authorities.

Stars & Stripes

I am sure the Provost understands this, but if servicemembers are arrested off base it is more nuanced than stating they are just handed over to their commands. Here is what the SOFA says:

The US retained custody until the completion of all judicial proceedings, including appeals prior to 2001. Under the revised SOFA, the ROK may now receive custody upon indictment if it requests in any one of twelve categories of serious cases. Such cases include murder, rape, kidnapping, arson, drug trafficking or manufacturing, robbery with a dangerous weapon, and cases of assaults, drunk driving or fleeing the scene of an accident that result in death. In very serious cases of murder or rape, if the Korean police arrest a SOFA accused in the act, in hot pursuit, or before he or she returns to military control, they may retain custody.

US-ROK SOFA Pamphlet

For minor crimes, yes servicemembers are usually handed over back to their commands, but for major crimes the Korean authorities can keep them in custody.

I absolutely called this one that the next time we see Cho Kuk’s younger brother he would be in a wheelchair. He had earlier tried to avoid arrest by claiming he had a bad back, now he is wheelchair bound and even added a neck brace for added dramatic effect:

The prosecution again sought an arrest warrant for a younger brother of former Justice Minister Cho Kuk on Tuesday over a hiring scandal and an alleged fake lawsuit surrounding a private school foundation run by his family.

State prosecutors asked a Seoul court to issue a warrant to formally detain the 52-year-old man over charges, including breach of duty, bribery, obstruction of justice and aiding and abetting destruction of evidence.

The brother, who worked at the Woongdong school foundation, is alleged to have leaked test questions and answers to two people who applied to teaching posts at a middle school run by the foundation and received 210 million won (US$180,102)

He is also suspected of incurring financial losses to the school foundation by filing a fraudulent lawsuit against it over construction costs.

The prosecution claimed the younger Cho should be arrested, given that two brokers who gave the money to him were already taken into custody. A court review of the request will be held probably on Thursday.

The prosecution earlier sought an arrest warrant for him, but a local court rejected to issue it on Oct. 9, saying the charges are disputable.

If the warrant is issued, he would be the third member of the former minister’s family to be arrested.

Chung Kyung-sim, Cho’s wife, was arrested last week on a total of 11 counts of charges including an alleged forgery of a school award for her daughter and a dubious investment in a private equity fund. A son of Cho’s cousin involved in the fund was also arrested in mid-September.

Yonhap

As you can see the Korean media continues to blur the faces of those involved with the Cho Kuk scandal. For this brother they don’t even give his name instead call him the younger Cho. This very much unlike what they did with everyone involved with the President Park Geun-hye impeachment who the media did everything possible to personally destroy.

This is interesting, one of the murders that the Hwaseong Serial Killer has admitted to already had someone jailed for the crime:

A man who spent nearly 20 years in prison for raping and killing a teenage girl is seeking a retrial to be exonerated after the notorious Hwaseong serial killer claimed responsibility for what was believed to be a “copycat” murder.

Lawyer Park Joon-young said Wednesday he will represent the man, 52, surnamed Yoon.

“For Yoon, this is a heaven-sent opportunity (to prove his innocence). I won’t waste it,” Park wrote on Facebook. “I will form a team of lawyers and, once completed, reveal their names.”

The development comes after Lee Chun-jae, 56, the prime suspect in at least nine murders between September 1986 and April 1991, claimed responsibility for the Sept. 16, 1988 so-called “copycat” murder ― 30 years after Yoon was convicted of killing the girl, 13, surnamed Park.

Speaking to Channel A, a local broadcaster, Yoon claimed police forced him to make a false confession after they assaulted and tortured him.

Yoon, then 22, was arrested in 1989 for killing the girl at her home. He was later sentenced to life in prison, which the Supreme Court upheld in May 1990. After spending 19 years and six months behind bars, he was released in 2009 for good behavior.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

What a sicko, it makes me wonder how long he has been doing this?:

An Air Force colonel pleaded guilty Friday to receiving child pornography online and taking photos of underage girls without their consent, according to the Department of Justice.

Col. Mark Visconi, 48, of Fairfax, Va., used an online bulletin board dedicated to sharing illegal images of minors between November 2015 and June 2016, according to the release from the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Virginia. A forensic review of his laptop showed that Visconi downloaded and viewed numerous child pornography images and videos using an anonymous web browser.

Titles indicated he downloaded videos of girls as young as 3 years old, according to court documents. In another, investigators noted the girl had a pillowcase with characters from the animated film “Beauty and the Beast.”

The plea documents also noted Visconi used his cell phone to create more than 440 pictures focused on the clothed buttocks of minor girls, according to the release. In a smaller subset of these pictures, Visconi appeared to take “upskirting” images of some of the girls, who did not appear to know that pictures were being taken.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.