Cho Joong-pil, the mother of a college student who was stabbed to death at a Burger King in the popular international district of Itaewon in 1997, leaves the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul on July 26, 2018. The court ordered the state to pay 360 million won (US$321,113) in compensation to the family of the student who was killed by two Americans. (Yonhap)
Here is an extremely horrible story out of Incheon:
A 43-year-old housewife and her three children – 2, 4 and 6 years old – were found dead in their car at an outdoor parking lot in Incheon on Saturday. Articles commonly used to commit suicide, and a short memo, presumably a suicide note, were also found inside the car.
Upon receiving a report from the mother of the housewife, who had gotten a text message from her daughter hinting that she would end her own life, police tracked down the housewife’s car and dispatched police officers to the location.
The housewife was not under any financial pressure, according to authorities after a police investigation. She also had no medical record of treatment for depression or other mental illnesses. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
I would have to think this guy must have some mental issues or was drunk for killing someone for being too loud:
A man surnamed Lee in his 40s has been arrested by police for allegedly killing his neighbor who “made too much noise” at night.
Busan Saha Police Station said Tuesday that it is investigating the man on the charge of murder.
The suspect is accused of stabbing a 31-year-old who lived in the same apartment building in Saha-gu, Busan, around 2 a.m. Tuesday. He was caught red-handed after the victim’s friend filed a report to police.
The victim was sent to a nearby hospital but died in the middle of surgery around 6 a.m. Tuesday. [Korea Herald]
You can read more at the link, but apparently the neighbor was being loud with his friends in front of the apartment while waiting for a taxi.
Two Korean nationals were part of the group of 10 people killed in the deadly van attack in Toronto:
Minassian has been taken into police custody and is due to appear in court on Tuesday. Police have not disclosed his motive, but sources suggested mental illness was a factor
Two Koreans were killed and one was injured in a van attack in Toronto, the Korean government said Tuesday (KST).
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said two Koreans were killed and one was seriously wounded as a result of the attack, in which a van plowed into pedestrians in the Canadian city. Their identities have not been disclosed.
The government has sent consular officials to local hospitals and police stations to help them and their families.
“The foreign ministry has taken necessary steps, including contacting the families of the victims, and plans to provide relevant consular support,” a ministry official said.
A large Korean community is in the area. The incident occurred when people rushed out for lunch.
According to reports, a man deliberately plowed his white Ryder rental van into a lunch-hour crowd, killing 10 people and injuring 15.
The suspect, Alek Minassian, 25, of Richmond Hill, Ontario, is in custody. Minassian was arrested about 30 minutes after police received the emergency call. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but the reported reason for this attack is one of the weirdest yet; this killer Alek Minassian is supposedly part of an online group called “incel” for being involuntary celibate due to women rejecting him. This attack was a way to stand up for the “incel’ community.
Condolences to this man’s family after he was randomly murdered by someone with a long criminal history and yet is still not in jail. This attack at least should lock him up for a long time:
A Korean man has died after a mysterious street attack in Waikiki, Hawaii, local media reported.
Kim Pil-sung, 29, lost consciousness after allegedly being punched and kicked by Cesarin Perez, 34, outside a bar early on Feb. 20. Kim was taken to a hospital but died on March 1.
Perez was caught Thursday and charged on suspicion of second-degree murder. He has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter. His bail is $500,000.
Why Perez allegedly attacked Kim is unclear because there were no specific ties between the two. The suspect had been convicted multiple times of prostitution and drug use charges, among others, according to local media.
An autopsy determined Kim died from injuries to his brain from blunt-force trauma. [Korea Times]
South Korea’s infamous “molar daddy” has been rightfully given the death penalty after raping and killing a 14-year old girl:
Lee Young-hak
A Seoul court on Wednesday meted out a death sentence for a man charged with killing a school friend of his daughter after sexually molesting her.
The Seoul Northern District Court handed down the gravest possible punishment on Lee Young-hak, 36, who had confessed to choking a 14-year-old girl to death in his home last September after committing lewd acts on her body while she was drugged.
Prosecutors had demanded the death penalty.
The court sentenced his daughter, whose identity was not revealed, to four years in prison for luring the friend to the house and helping her father dump her body. But her sentence can be extended up to six years in case of an infraction during her four-year imprisonment. [Korea Times]
It looks like it is a strong possibility that Kim Jong-nam was meeting with a US intelligence agent a few days before he was assassinated by North Korean agents:
Kim Jong-nam
A police witness said Monday that the estranged half-brother of North Korea’s leader met with an unidentified Korean-American man on a Malaysian resort island four days before he was murdered, as the trial of two women accused of killing him resumed.
Indonesia’s Siti Aisyah, 25, and Vietnam’s Doan Thi Huong, 29, are accused of smearing VX nerve agent on Kim Jong Nam’s face in a crowded airport terminal in Kuala Lumpur last Feb. 13. They pleaded not guilty to murder charges when their trial began Oct. 2. The two are the only suspects in custody, though prosecutors have said four North Koreans who fled the country were also involved.
Chief police investigating officer Wan Azirul Nizam Che Wan Aziz told the court Monday that Kim flew from Macau to Kuala Lumpur last Feb. 6 and went to the northern island of Langkawi two days later. He said Kim met with the Korean-American at a Langkawi hotel the next day, but he didn’t know the man’s identity and it wasn’t related to the $138,000 in cash found in Kim’s backpack when he was murdered.
Wah Azirul was responding to questions from Gooi Soon Seng, Aisyah’s lawyer, who asked him to confirm a report by the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun that Kim had met in Langkawi with a US intelligence agent who was based in Bangkok.
“Until now, the identity of the man is not known,” Wan Azirul told the court. He said he could not remember the hotel name or whether the room was registered under Kim or the man, prompting a lashing from Gooi for his “severe lapse of memory.” [NY Post]
You can read more at the link, but meeting with a US intelligence agent may have been the final straw for his younger brother Kim Jong-nam to finally decide to assassinate him.
Yet another example of a stupid criminal getting caught after committing a horrific crime:
Kim Sung-kwan is being taken from Yongin Police Station, Gyeonggi Province, Monday, to inspect the crime scene. / Yonhap
Kim Sung-kwan, a Korean who flew to Auckland three months ago after allegedly killing three family members here, said Sunday that he had plotted everything to take his mother’s money.
According to police, he has been arrested on charges of killing his mother, 55, stepfather, 57, and half-brother, 14, with a sharp object on Oct. 21 and stealing 118 million won ($110,000) from the mother’s two bank accounts.
Police have found that Kim owed 60 million won and had no stable job.
Police have also confirmed that for two days before executing the plot, Kim searched information about weapons, how to use them and how a criminal extradition system worked between Korea and New Zealand.
According to police, he first killed his mother and half-brother at her apartment in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, between 2 p.m. and 5p.m. He then killed his stepfather at a parking lot in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province, at around 8 p.m. the same day.
Two days later, he flew to New Zealand with his wife, surnamed Jung, and two daughters ― one aged two years and the other seven months at that time.
But Kim, who has a permanent residency in New Zealand not know he was wanted there for a crime he committed two years ago ― stealing household appliances.
By the time a local court found him guilty of the theft, Korean police learned where he was and asked the New Zealand government to send him back. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but obviously his Internet research on extraditions from New Zealand were not very well executed. Hopefully this brutal murderer rots in prison for the rest of his life.
This is a horrible crime committed by a South Korean man in Hong Kong:
Hong Kong police have arrested a South Korean man on suspicion of murdering his wife and seven-year-old son at the five-star Ritz-Carlton hotel, according to Reuters.
The two were found dead in a room at 8:30 a.m. The man reportedly appeared drunk and injured. He was arrested at the scene and sent to hospital.
Further details were not available immediately. [Korea Times]
