Category: crime & punishment

According to the article there is likely more than six victims that this guy has drugged and sexually assaulted:

The U.S. media released the employee’s identity while a Korean man who worked as an engineer at NASA was accused of sexually assaulting six women.

According to the Harris County Prosecutor’s Office in Texas on the 9th (local time), A (37) was charged with sexual assault on six women he met through a dating app between 2019 and 2022.

The prosecution said, “We approached women by saying that he attends NASA,” adding, “We believe that there will be additional victims in that he often traveled abroad such as Japan, the UK, and Canada.”

The investigation reportedly began with a website that shares the experiences of sexual assault victims.

There was also testimony that A secretly fed drugs and became unconscious or threatened to release sex videos if he reported them to the police.

Maeil Kyeongchae

You can read more at the link.

Just another example of the crazy defamation laws in place in South Korea:

Would it be defamation if the face of a customer who took goods without paying at an unmanned store was publicly attached to the store?

In this case, the court said, “It constitutes defamation.”

According to the legal community on the 28th, Judge Gong Woo-jin of the Incheon District Court’s Criminal Chamber 14 sentenced A (43) to a fine of 300,000 won for the owner of an unmanned stationery store accused of defamation.

Mr. A, who runs an unmanned stationery store in Jung-gu, Incheon, released a photo on November 7, 2022, showing a young customer who took goods in a bag without paying at his store.

It was released by attaching a picture of a child taken on a closed-circuit (CC) TV screen to the store, and it was put on trial when parents accused A of defaming the child.

A said, “I’m looking for a child who took a figure (model doll) worth 23,000 won and 11 Pokemon cards without paying four days ago. If you know this child, please contact me,” he said.

The court ruled that if A does not pay a fine, 100,000 won will be converted into one day and detained at a labor center for three days, saying that defamation charges are established.

Maeil Kyeongchae via a reader tip

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.

Here is more on the GI crime front from this weekend. U.S. Army WTF Moments is reporting not only about the vehicle theft last weekend, but also an officer soliciting a prostitute. Times have definitely changed because 20 years ago this was a normal weekend in the ville:

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.

With how small cameras are getting today this guy wasn’t trying very hard to hide his spy cameras with something this obvious:

This photo shows a spy camera found at an early voting polling station in Yangsan, 301 kilometers southeast of Seoul, provided by the South Gyeongsang Province police authority on March 29, 2024.

Police said Saturday they have requested an arrest warrant for a YouTuber suspected of installing spy cameras at some 40 early voting stations ahead of the April 10 parliamentary elections.

Officials at Incheon Nonhyeon Police Station said the suspect, a man in his 40s, allegedly placed hidden cameras at about 40 early polling stations in major cities, including Seoul, Busan, Incheon, Ulsan and Daegu.

The interior ministry earlier said spy cameras had been found at 26 early voting stations as of Friday.

The suspect reportedly told the police that he wanted to monitor the National Election Commission’s manipulation of turnout rates for early voting.

The man is also under suspicion of having installed hidden cameras in polling stations during the 2022 presidential election and the by-election for the mayorship of Gangseo District in Seoul in October, according to officials.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The weird scandal involving South Korean Olympic medalist fencer Nam Hyun-hee has apparently come to an end, unless Jeon Cheong-jo can find away to scam her/himself? out of jail:

Jeon Cheong-jo, the 28-year-old former fiance of Olympic fencing medalist Nam Hyun-hee, is moved to the Seoul Eastern District Court for a trial on Feb. 14, 2024. (Yonhap)

A Seoul court sentenced the scandal-ridden former fiance of Olympic fencing medalist Nam Hyun-hee to 12 years in prison on Wednesday on fraud and forgery charges. 

The 28-year-old former fiance, Jeon Cheong-jo, was charged with swindling a total of about 3 billion won (US$2.25 million) from 27 people under the pretext of investment between 2022 and 2023.

Jeon presented herself to the victims as a secret heir to the high-end Paradise Hotel chain, enticing them with false investment opportunities that she portrayed as exclusively reserved for rich conglomerate families, according to investigations.

Jeon gained notoriety after breaking up with Nam, the silver medalist in women’s foil at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, following revelations that Jeon was legally a woman, not an heir to the Paradise Hotel chain and had multiple records of fraud.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like there will not be any more jail time for Samsung Chairman Lee Jae-yong:

A Seoul court acquitted Samsung Electronics Co. Chairman Lee Jae-yong on Monday in connection with the controversial 2015 merger of two Samsung affiliates allegedly conducted to help him take over control of South Korea’s biggest conglomerate.

The Seoul Central District Court delivered the not-guilty sentence for Lee, three years and five months after he was indicted on charges of involvement in market irregularities in the merger of Cheil Industries Inc. and Samsung C&T Corp. to solidify his managerial control of the group at a lower cost.

Lee was charged with stock price rigging, breach of trust and accounting fraud in the course of the controversial 2015 merger, where three Samsung C&T shares were offered for one Cheil share. 

The merger was seen as crucial to Lee’s succession as the heir of the family-controlled group, as his father, Lee Kun-hee, had suffered a heart attack the previous year.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I don’t know how smashing someone over the head 15 times with a rock is an accident. With that said it appears this kid is a nutjob which was what I suspected when this first was reported:

This image, provided by People Power Party lawmaker Bae Hyun-jin’s office, shows the scene of the attack on her in Seoul on Jan. 25, 2024. (Yonhap)

 The teenage assailant of ruling party lawmaker Bae Hyun-jin has claimed that his attack was accidental, saying he had been waiting to be admitted to a hospital for worsening depression, police officials said Friday.

The 15-year-old boy was detained Thursday afternoon shortly after attacking Bae of the ruling People Power Party with a rock the size of an adult man’s fist in Seoul’s southern district of Gangnam for unclear reasons.

Bae, a television news anchor-turned-lawmaker, was struck on the head 15 times. She was taken to Soonchunhyang University Hospital and had her bleeding wound stapled. She remains hospitalized there.

Police questioned the suspect in the presence of his guardian the previous day, and collected his mobile phone and social media history to determine the exact motive behind the crime.

During the investigation, the suspect told the police that he left home about two hours before the incident, bumped into Bae and accidentally committed the attack, according to police officials.

He reportedly said he had been waiting, at a doctor’s order, to be admitted to a closed psychiatric ward due to a depression relapse.

He also said he was habitually carrying the rock with him.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

More political violence in South Korea as parliamentary elections are just two months away:

This Dec. 6, 2023, file photo shows People Power Party lawmaker Rep. Bae Hyun-jin. (Yonhap)

People Power Party lawmaker Rep. Bae Hyun-jin sustained a head injury after being attacked by an unidentified assailant Thursday but remains in stable condition, her office said.

The incident happened around 5 p.m. in the southern Seoul district of Gangnam. According to Bae’s aide, a male pedestrian walked up to Bae and asked, “Are you the lawmaker Bae Hyun-jin?” and struck her in the back of the head with a rock the size of an adult man’s fist.

Bae was transported to Soonchunhyang University Hospital with her head bleeding. Bae remained conscious and her injury is not believed to be life threatening.

The suspect was momentarily arrested by police in Gangnam, and claimed to officers that he is 15 years old.

Bae, 40, is a former television news anchor who was elected to her first term in the National Assembly in 2020. She briefly served as a spokesperson for then President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol in 2022.

CCTV footage provided by Bae’s office showed that the suspect struck the lawmaker fifteen times with the rock within a span of some 10 seconds until nearby witnesses physically engaged the suspect.

Footage showed that the suspect, who wore a mask and a beanie while dressed in a hoodie, remained at the scene observing the lawmaker until Bae’s aides apprehended him. He was later handed over to police.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the doctors believe she will be okay after stitching her head closed. They are going to continue to monitor her for a concussion and microbleeding in her cranium. It will be interesting to see what the motivation was for the attacker to commit this crime or if he has a history of mental illness or not.