Category: crime & punishment

I am always amazed how people keep falling for these scams:

A Malaysian man has been jailed for a year over a fake kidnapping phone scam.

The man, 37, was caught in January after making a phone call to a randomly selected person in Ulsan on Jan. 8. He told the receiver that he had kidnapped his daughter and demanded 27 million won ($25,399) ransom.

The father wired the money but soon realized he had been duped. He reported the incident to police, who caught the suspect days after.

The Malaysian was found to be a member of a domestic voice phishing syndicate. The suspect told police he took 500,000 won from the wired money and shared the rest with his colleagues. Police are looking for other people involved.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

Via a reader tip comes this conviction against reporters who disclosed the affair of a USFK civilian worker:

South Korea’s top court on Tuesday confirmed the conviction of three weekly magazine reporters who were accused of publishing an extramarital affair story involving a Korean civilian worker at United States Forces Korea (USFK).

The Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s ruling, fining them 3 million won ($2,800) each for defaming the worker.

The court rejected the reporters’ claim that their reporting was justifiable in light of people’s right to know and the freedom of press.

It said the disputed story dealt with a “sheer private affair” whose publication did nothing for public interest. The court said the story was published with personal details edited out, but not enough.  [Korea Times]

Can you imagine if the US had South Korea’s defamation laws?  The journalists in America would all be broke from lawsuits.

The Korean left is likely rejoicing today with the news that they have finally gotten payback on former President Lee Myung-Bak for uncovering the corruption of former President Roh Moo-hyun:

Former President Lee Myung-bak was taken into custody by prosecutors after a local court issued a warrant Thursday night to detain him as a suspect in a criminal investigation over corruption allegations.

Lee, who served as president from 2008 to 2013, became the fourth former president to be detained on corruption charges.

He faces at least 18 charges for receiving bribes from businessmen and politicians, misappropriating secret operations funds from the country’s main spy agency and generating slush funds using a company registered under his family’s name.

After the Seoul Central District Court issued the warrant around 11:05 p.m. on Thursday, prosecutors went to his home in Nonhyeon-dong, southern Seoul, and transported Lee to the Seoul Dongbu Detention Center in Munjeong-dong, southern Seoul.

Earlier in the day, Judge Park Beom-seok reviewed the prosecution’s application for a detention warrant, which was submitted on Monday. Judge Park made the decision after reviewing documents from prosecutors and Lee’s lawyers. A hearing was not held because Lee refused to attend.

Prosecutors questioned the former president on March 14 and asked the court to issue a detention warrant for further investigation because they believed there was a high possibility of evidence destruction. Lee, they argued, might try to persuade witnesses to change their testimony.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but this could also be payback for the prison term that former Prime Minister during the Roh administration, Han Myeong-sook received for corruption.  This is just another example that politics in South Korea is a zero sum game.

I guess we will see how strictly this new law is enforced:

South Korea’s agriculture ministry said Wednesday it will implement a revised animal safety law to require dogs to wear a leash in public places, but it withheld a controversial plan to give cash rewards to those who report violators amid a backlash from animal lovers.

Starting from Thursday, dogs will be required to have a leash no longer than 2 meters in public places, and potentially dangerous breeds — pit bulls, Rottweilers, American pit bull terriers, American Staffordshire terriers and Staffordshire bull terriers — will have to wear muzzles as well.

Dog owners who fail to abide by the rules will be subject to penalties up to 500,000 won (US$466.40), which has been raised from the current 100,000 won.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

I have to wonder if this is the oldest guy ever convicted of attempted murder?:

   

A 99-year-old man has been sentenced to four years’ jail for stabbing his wife.

Jeju District Court on Thursday found the man, identified only by his surname Moon, guilty of attempted murder.

He had stabbed his wife, 87, three times in an argument at their eldest son’s house in September.

The court was told that Moon became enraged when his wife told not him to come back.

The wife recovered from the stab wound.

The court heard that in July, the wife had punched Moon during an argument, so he then went to live with his son.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

If half of the corruption allegations against former President Lee Myung-bak are true, then it looks like he may be in some serious trouble:

Troubled shipbuilder Sungdong Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering was the source of bribes former President Lee Myung-bak allegedly accepted from a banker, sources from the prosecution said Friday.

Lee, who was in office from 2008 to 2013, is being investigated over various corruption accusations. Of the 20 charges he is facing, one is an allegation that he had accepted a total of 2.25 billion won ($2.12 million) from Lee Pal-sung, then-chairman of Woori Financial Group, from 2007 until 2011. The banker allegedly paid the money to keep his job during Lee’s presidency.

According to prosecution sources, a memo was found in Lee Pal-sung’s home during a raid last month. It detailed his payments to Lee’s family, including the former president’s son-in-law.

The money came from Sungdong Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, which was in serious financial trouble at the time, the prosecution sources said. The midsize shipbuilder was established in 2003 but its financial situation deteriorated in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial meltdown. Up to now, the firm received 9.3 trillion won in bailouts, but has not been turned around. The government decided earlier this month to let the company file for court receivership.

Lawyers of the former president said Friday that Lee told the prosecution during questioning earlier this week that he had no knowledge of the bribery.

The JoongAng Ilbo reported Friday that the prosecution has secured testimony from a former CEO of auto component maker DAS that former President Lee accepted large amounts of secret funds from the company for years.

According to sources from the legal community, the prosecution suspects that Lee had took about 3.5 billion won from DAS. The auto parts maker is technically owned by Lee’s elder brother, but prosecutors believe that Lee is the actual owner.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

In addition to being an odd story, I am some what surprised he actually received 7 years in jail for rape:

A Korean man was sentenced to seven years in prison for raping the sister of his Filipino wife. The man, 39, surnamed Jeon, was also ordered to receive 120 hours of sex-crime prevention education.

An appellate court in Gwangju handed down the ruling on Wednesday, overturning a lower court’s acquittal.

“The accused raped his sister-in-law who came from the Philippines to attend his wedding ceremony. It’s really a bad crime,” wrote Judge Lee Jae-kwon in a ruling statement. “The victim experienced a great deal of humiliation, shame and mental shock, which caused serious depression, stress-driven emotional disorder and chronic insomnia.”

According to court documents, the incident happened on Feb. 15 last year, three days before the wedding ceremony. The groom-to-be raped his sister-in-law after they went out together to buy gifts for wedding guests.

A lower court acquitted him based on circumstantial and tangible evidence, with which it presumed the two to be in a romantic relationship.  [Korea Times]

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]

Here may be the beginnings of yet another nude photo scandal for the Pentagon:

Here is a strange sexual assault story involving a Japanese woman running a boarding house in Hawaii:

A Manoa woman who recruited exchange students from Japan raped one of her clients as many as 10 times while he was bedridden with an injury, police allege in court documents.

Police said she also threatened the victim, a 16-year-old Japanese national, if he went to authorities, saying she’d accuse him of rape if he reported her.

The suspect has been identified as 36-year-old Rika Shimizu.

She’s been indicted on five counts of second-degree sex assault and four counts of fourth-degree sex assault. She remains in custody on $600,000 bail.  [Hawaii News Now]

You can read more at the link.