Category: crime & punishment

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.

This case has been going through the legal process for many years, but it looks like it could end soon with jail sentence:s:

This combination of file photos shows (from L to R) former National Intelligence Service Director Park Jie-won, former National Security Adviser Suh Hoon and former Defense Minister Suh Wook. (Yonhap)

 Prosecutors on Wednesday sought a four-year prison term for former National Security Adviser Suh Hoon and a two-year term for former National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director Park Jie-won over the alleged cover-up of the 2020 killing of a South Korean fisheries official at North Korea’s hands.

The sentencing requests were made during the final court hearing at the Seoul Central District Court, wrapping up a trial that began some three years ago with the indictments of five officials of former President Moon Jae-in’s administration, including Suh Hoon and former Defense Minister Suh Wook.

The fisheries official, Lee Dae-jun, was fatally shot by North Korean soldiers near the de facto maritime border in the Yellow Sea on Sept. 22, 2020, a day after going missing while on duty on board a fishery inspection vessel. His body was burned by the North.

The Moon administration announced Lee sought to defect to the North in what prosecutors believe was an attempt to prevent the incident from hampering inter-Korean relations.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The question becomes will people believe the testimony from someone was an incentive to lie since he is cooperating with the prosecution?:

Han Dong-hoon, the former leader of the People Power Party, said Monday evening he was “grief-stricken and devastated” by courtroom testimony that former President Yoon Suk Yeol wanted him shot and killed.

The remark was part of testimony by former Army Special Warfare Commander Kwak Jong-keun, who told the court that Yoon instructed him on Oct. 1, 2024, to arrest Han and other political figures, saying, “I’ll have him shot to death if I have to.”

Han had been a longtime colleague and confidant to Yoon. He joined then-President Yoon’s Cabinet in May 2022 as justice minister, before later taking over as leader of the then-ruling party in December 2023.

Kwak testified Monday in Yoon’s criminal trial for charges of insurrection and power abuse, related to his imposition of martial law on Dec. 3, 2024. Yoon has denied issuing any such orders.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but Kwak claims the martial law order was issued on October 1st. If that this the case how was the martial law order executed so poorly with over two months to plan for it?

Here is something you just don’t see happen with a high profile government official visiting South Korea. Considering he did this to a woman he doesn’t know during a state sponsored trip, you know he is doing this to women working around him in Vietnam:

This photo, provided by the defense ministry, shows Vice Defense Minister Lee Doo-hee (L) shaking hands with his Vietnamese counterpart, Hoang Xuan Chien, in Seoul on Sept. 11, 2025. (Yonhap)

 The defense ministry has summoned a Vietnamese defense attache stationed in South Korea over alleged sexual misconduct by Vietnam’s deputy defense minister during his visit to Seoul last month, military officials said Monday.

According to the officials, Senior Lt. Gen. Hoang Xuan Chien inappropriately touched a South Korean public servant during a banquet with high-ranking military officials on Sept. 11.

The Vietnamese vice defense minister was visiting Seoul on the occasion of the Seoul Defense Dialogue on Sept. 8-10.

Given the gravity of the case, the ministry summoned the Vietnamese defense attache eight days later to lodge a protest over the deputy minister’s behavior.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks a subcontractor was trying to skirt US immigration laws. With ICE strictly enforcing immigration laws companies need to do their due diligence to comply with them:

Nearly 500 people were arrested as part of an immigration raid at a Hyundai Motor battery plant under construction in Georgia as part of a criminal investigation into employment practices at the site, a Homeland Security official said Friday.

The operation Thursday resulted in the arrest of 475 individuals. More than 300 were South Korean nationals, according to an official from the country.

Those arrested had illegally crossed the border, entered through a visa waiver program that prohibited them from working or had overstayed their visas, Steven Schrank, a special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Atlant a, said at a press conference Friday morning.

“This was the largest single site enforcement operation in the history of Homeland Security investigations,” Schrank said.

Wall Street Journal

You can read more at the link, but instead of getting an H1B visa the workers had B1 visas. These visas are for attending business meetings not construction work. The subcontractor probably got their workers into the U.S. using the B1 visa because H1Bs are more complicated and highly scrutinized since you have to show an American can’t do the work.

What would Korea do if 300 Americans showed up on a wrong visa and began constructing a building in Seoul? They would probably have the same reaction to what is happening in Georgia.