Category: crime & punishment

These two Marines stationed in Japan were are walking crime spree between Hiroshima and Tokyo:

Japanese authorities are investigating two U.S. Marines for possible thefts totaling $65,000 or more since last fall, according to Japanese police and media reports recently. Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Friday forwarded to Japanese prosecutors their case against two Marines, ages 20 and 26, for stealing 27,000 yen, or $175, in cash from two restaurants in Kabukicho, a nightlife district near Shinjuku, between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. Dec. 24, The Mainichi newspaper reported Friday.

The newspaper cited the police as a source, although a Tokyo police spokeswoman declined to confirm the report by phone for Stars and Stripes on Tuesday.  The Marines may be linked to multiple thefts last fall with losses exceeding $65,000, The Mainichi reported, citing an unnamed investigative source. Two Marines from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni and under suspicion by Japanese authorities of “criminal misconduct” are in Marine Corps custody, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing spokesman Maj. Joseph Butterfield said by email Tuesday.

Stars and Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It looks like Cambodia’s top export to South Korea will be deported South Koreans:

Dozens of South Koreans suspected of involvement in scam operations in Cambodia will be repatriated to Korea, officials said Thursday, in the largest overseas transfer of Korean scam suspects.

According to presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung, a pangovernmental task force formed to combat transnational crime has coordinated the return of 73 Korean suspects accused of defrauding 869 victims of approximately 48.6 billion won ($33 million).

The task force was established in October following a summit between President Lee Jae Myung and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Over the weekend former President Yoon learned that he will spend five years in jail for charges related to his martial law decree:

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to five years in prison Friday on charges that included the obstruction of investigators’ attempt to detain him last year.

The Seoul Central District Court handed down the sentence in the first ruling on charges stemming from Yoon’s short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024.

Chief among the charges in Friday’s case was that the then president had ordered the Presidential Security Service to block investigators from executing a warrant to detain him at the official presidential residence in January last year.

Judge Baek Dae-hyun, the presiding judge, chastised Yoon during the hearing attended by the jailed former president and televised live.

“He effectively privatized the armed forces through the public servants of the Presidential Security Service who are loyal to the Republic of Korea for his personal safety and interests,” he said.

“Considering the need to restore the rule of law damaged by the defendant’s crimes, a severe punishment that matches the guilt is necessary.”

The sentence was half of what special counsel Cho Eun-suk’s team had requested last month, saying the former president committed a “grave crime” by “privatizing” state institutions with the aim of concealing and justifying his criminal acts.

In addition to obstructing his detention, Yoon was accused of violating the rights of nine Cabinet members who were not called to a meeting to review his martial law plan, and drafting and later destroying a revised proclamation after the martial law decree was lifted.

He was also charged with ordering the distribution of press statements containing falsehoods about the declaration and the deletion of records from secure phones used by then military commanders.

The judge said Yoon was guilty of all charges except with regard to the rights of two of the nine Cabinet members and the order to distribute false press statements.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

As long as the CSAT remains such an important factor in determining which colleges Korean students can attend, this corruption will continue:

Math instructor Hyun Woo-jin. 

Hyun Woo-jin (39) and Cho Jung-sik (44), both “top-tier instructors,” have been indicted for allegedly paying large sums to current teachers in exchange for mock College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) questions and other materials. It was confirmed that they provided up to 180 million Korean won to teachers, with some transactions conducted through spouses’ accounts.

According to the indictment obtained by this newspaper through People Power Party Representative Park Joon-tae on the 14th, math instructor Hyun transferred a total of 179.09 million Korean won in 20 installments from March 2020 to May 2023 to Teacher A, who has been a private high school math teacher since 1995, in exchange for math exam questions. Hyun also paid 167.78 million Korean won in 20 installments from March 2020 to April 2023 to Teacher B, a high school teacher since 1997, and 75.3 million Korean won in 37 installments from March 2020 to June 2023 to Teacher C, a teacher since 2015. Teacher C was found to have used a spouse’s account for transactions.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office Criminal Division 7 (headed by Choi Tae-eun) non-custodially indicted Hyun and the three teachers last December for violating the Anti-Graft Act. Under the law, private school teachers are prohibited from receiving more than 1 million Korean won per instance or 3 million Korean won annually from a single person unrelated to their duties, with both givers and receivers subject to punishment.

Chosen Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

I had not heard of this criminal case before, but it is really terrible. How can a pregnant woman kidnap and kill an 8-year old girl?:

Police drag Jeon Hyeon-ju, the kidnapper and killer of Park Na-ri, 8, to Seocho Police Station in southern Seoul on Sept. 12, 1997.[JOONANG ILBO]

On the evening of Aug. 30, 1997, a telephone rang inside an apartment in Seocho District, an affluent neighborhood in southern Seoul. 
  
The voice on the line was calm. 
  
“Is this Na-ri’s house?” the woman asked. “Na-ri is doing fine.”

The next day, the phone rang again. 
  
“Bring a bank card with 20 million won [$14,000] in it,” the woman said. 
  
“I only have cash,” the mother replied, her voice shaking. 
  
“Then you will not be able to see your child,” the caller said and hung up. 
  
Only later would the family learn that this was not a negotiation. Another call that night was traced to a cafe in Myeong-dong, central Seoul. 
  
With no leads, police made the investigation public on Sept. 3. The missing child was Park Na-ri, a second-grade student at a nearby elementary school. Her full name was Park Chorong Chorong Bitnari.  (……………..)

The day after her father came forward, police arrested Jeon at an inn in Sillim-dong, in Gwanak District, southern Seoul. Pesticides were found at the scene. Jeon later told police she had intended to kill herself. Her parents, according to reports, had urged her to do so before her arrest. 
  
She was about a month from giving birth. 
  
Based on Jeon’s testimony, police were dispatched to the basement office of her husband in Sadang-dong, Dongjak District. Her husband worked as a director of children’s theatrical productions. 
  
An officer at the scene later said he nearly slipped on the floor because it was covered in blood. 
  
Na-ri’s body was found inside a hiking backpack.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read the rest at the link, but Jeon was sentenced to life in prison and after giving birth her daughter was put up for adoption to the United States.

Talk about a fall from grace for the former First Lady. Cho Kuk and his wife must be loving this:

Kim Keon Hee attends a hearing at the Seoul Central District Court on Dec. 3. (Yonhap)

Sunday marked the conclusion of the 180-day investigation by the special counsel team looking into accusations against Kim Keon Hee, the wife of former President Yoon Suk Yeol.

The team led by Min Joong-ki is scheduled to conduct a briefing on its investigation at 10 a.m. Monday at the special counsel’s office in Jongno-gu, central Seoul. Further investigation against Kim is expected to be conducted by the National Office of Investigation under the National Police Agency.

Forming the backbone of the investigation were Kim’s alleged connection to a Deutsch Motors stock manipulation scheme, her alleged election interference involving pollster Myung Tae-kyun, as well as bribery suspicions, including a case involving the Unification Church.

Since the probe’s launch on July 2, Min’s team has made multiple high-profile arrests and indictments. This includes taking Rep. Kweon Song-dong of the main opposition People Power Party and Unification Church leader Han Hak-ja into custody.

People Power Party Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon and his wife were indicted Saturday, accused of giving a luxury gift to Kim. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon has been indicted on charges of having a sponsor pay for opinion polls conducted by Myung.

In a hearing at the Seoul Central District Court on Dec. 3, the special counsel team requested that Kim be sentenced to 15 years in prison and a seizure of 2 billion won ($1.4 million) in criminal proceedings, accusing her of “incapacitating the justice system.”

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Anyone trying to smuggle drugs through the military mail system in Korea is an idiot because they will eventually get caught by the screening process the ROK has for international mail. All you have to do is a Google search or check my archives to see how many people have been convicted for smuggling drugs through the mail in Korea:

South Korea’s Supreme Court has upheld a six-year prison sentence for a former U.S. forces employee convicted of smuggling illegal drugs into the country using the military mail system. On Nov. 13, the court unanimously dismissed an appeal by the unidentified defendant, confirming a June 25 ruling by the Suwon High Court, according to a document posted Friday on the court’s website. In August 2021, the defendant imported about 15 pounds of methamphetamine into South Korea through military mail sent to a U.S. base in Pyeongtaek, about 40 miles south of Seoul, Yonhap News Agency reported Friday, citing unidentified legal sources.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but the excuse this idiot used was that he thought he was receiving powdered milk in the mail.

You would think these people would be smarter and have funds like this donated to their campaigns. If this guy did in fact receive a cash bribe he should be punished for it:

 A special counsel team on Wednesday demanded a four-year prison term for opposition lawmaker Kweon Seong-dong on charges of accepting illegal political funds from the Unification Church.

Kweon of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) is accused of receiving 100 million won (US$67,570) from a former church official in 2022 in exchange for his help in gaining policy favors for the church following the presidential election of then PPP candidate Yoon Suk Yeol later that year.

The former church official allegedly promised to also mobilize the votes of church members in support of Yoon.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is pretty bold stripping an entire orchard of all of its tangerines:

A tangerine farm on Jeju Island, spanning about 56,000 square meters, was stripped clean overnight, local media reported Thursday.

According to the reports, the farm owner arrived at her farm in Bongae-dong, Jeju, on Monday, only to find that every last tangerine had disappeared.

“I thought I was in the wrong field,” she told a Jeju broadcaster. “All the tangerines that had been hanging from the trees were gone, and all I could see were green branches. It was unbelievable.”

Local police, based on trash and other items left at the scene, have identified a suspect in his 50s. During questioning, he reportedly said he deployed nine workers and harvested the entire orchard in a single day, claiming he was simply following instructions from a team leader.

The orchard had been expected to yield about 3 tons of tangerines this year.

As of Nov. 18, the average wholesale price of tangerines at the nation’s nine largest markets was 13,000 won per 5 kilograms, which is 7.4 percent higher than the same period last year, when the price was 12,100 won. It is also 15 percent higher than in 2023, when it was 11,300 won.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Anyone believe this claim?:

Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho denied Monday that President Lee Jae Myung had any part in the prosecution’s recent decision to not appeal a high-profile development corruption case stemming from his time as mayor of Seongnam.

Jung made the remark as he arrived for work at the justice ministry in Gwacheon, just south of Seoul, as controversy has flared up over the prosecution’s failure to appeal the case by last Friday’s deadline, which critics allege was a result of government interference. (……)

The development corruption case centers on allegations that a small number of unheard-of private asset management companies, including Hwacheon Daeyu, were allowed to reap astronomical investment profits from a real estate development project in Seongnam’s Daejang-dong district in 2015, when Lee was the city’s mayor.

Lee stood trial on charges of inflicting losses to Seongnam Development Corp., which was in charge of the project, before a court indefinitely postponed his trial following his presidential election victory in June.

In a separate trial, however, a district court sentenced Yoo Dong-gyu, former acting president of Seongnam Development Corp., and Kim Man-bae, a major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu, to eight-year prison terms each on charges, including breach of duty, on Oct. 31.

Three other suspects were sentenced to prison terms ranging from four to six years.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.