Category: crime & punishment

Via a reader tip comes this example of the absurdity that sometimes occur with South Korea’s defamation laws:

Korea’s Constitutional Court has ruled that saying “You are f—ing crazy” in English may be derogatory but not defamatory.

The ruling came after two men from an apartment building in Gyeonggi Province argued in May last year over the watering of flowers at a nearby garden. Lee, 62, and his neighbor, 43, sued each other for physical violence and false accusation.

The pair clashed again days later, after the neighbor failed to address Lee respectfully ― a social norm in Korea when there is a large age difference.

But when an apartment warden approached, the neighbor changed his tone and used honorifics to address Lee. The neighbor’s sudden change frustrated Lee and he said to himself: “You are f—ing crazy.”

The neighbor heard it and sued Lee for defamation. But prosecutors rejected the filing because, while admitting Lee’s criminality, it was hard to indict him based on the circumstances.

The issue was then referred to the Constitutional Court.

The court ruled unanimously, saying:

“‘F–ing’ elaborates ‘crazy,’ like ‘very,’ while ‘crazy’ has many meanings like ‘unnatural,’ ‘absurd’ or ‘passionate.’  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but it is amazing that this went all the way to the Constitutional Court for a final ruling.

When I first read this article I was wondering if it was a Duffel Blog entry, but the person who leaked Top Secret information really is named Reality Winner:

The alleged leaker accused of feeding a classified report to an online news site has a colorful history on social media that lays bare her political leanings as an environmentalist who wanted to “resist” President Trump.

Reality Winner, 25, is a contractor with Pluribus International Corporation assigned to a federal facility in Georgia, where she allegedly leaked a classified intelligence report containing “Top Secret Level” information. The report, according to the Department of Justice, contained classified defense information from an intelligence community agency.

While the DOJ did not say which site published the information, the charges were announced just as The Intercept published details of a National Security Agency report on Russian hacking efforts during the 2016 presidential election.

According to the Justice Department, Winner admitted to printing a classified intelligence document despite not having a “need to know,” and with knowledge the report was classified. Winner further admitted removing the report from her office space and mailing it to the news outlet, according to the criminal complaint.  [Fox News]

You can read more at the link, but it appears she was motivated by politics because of her anti-Trump Facebook postings.  What is clear though is that she needs to receive the maximum sentence possible for leaking Top Secret information to the media because this leak is absolutely ridiculous.

What makes this even more pathetic is that this information was already known to the media.  CNN reported back in October 2016 that federal officials told them that Russia may have compromised the personal information of Florida, Illinois, and Arizona voters.  This leaked document is just the source for the information that federal officials already briefed the media.  So Reality Winner has likely thrown her life away for providing information the media already knows and did not change one vote during last year’s election.

The three Koreans killed in this murder were actually part of a scheme that defrauded South Koreans of hundreds of thousands of dollars:

Location where the three dead South Koreans were discovered in the Philippines.

A Seoul court on Friday sentenced a South Korean man who shot three compatriots to death in the Philippines last year to 30 years in prison.

The Seoul Central District Court convicted the man, identified only by his last name Kim, of murdering three Koreans — two men and one woman — who were found in a sugar cane field in Bacolor, some 70 kilometers northwest of Manila, on Oct. 11. All three had gunshot wounds to their heads.

He killed the victims following a proposal from another South Korean, surnamed Park, in return for money.

Kim was also convicted of abandoning the bodies and siphoning off 2.4 million won ($2,100) from the victims.

Prosecutors accused Kim of stealing another 720 million won from their account, but the court acquitted him of the charges, citing a lack of evidence.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

The obvious question with this incident is where were their parents at?  What an embarrassment:

Three teenage children of U.S. forces in South Korea have been arrested for assaulting Koreans, including a 50-something taxi driver, while drunk, police said Sunday.

One victim was reportedly assaulted because he did not know the location of a nearby nightclub, according to Mapo Police Station.

The alleged incident happened at 2 a.m. of May 23 near Sogang University in Mapo, northwestern Seoul.

According to police, the teenagers picked a fight with two adult Koreans after they bumped shoulders accidently. The teenagers were then involved in a fight with a Korean man near Hongik University at around 3 a.m. after he failed to answer their question about the nightclub. A taxi driver who tried to intervene was also assaulted.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but their parents should be held accountable as well for allowing their kids to be wandering around Seoul at 2AM in the morning.

Over at the Korea Herald they have an article published that details some of South Korea’s most prolific serial killers.  Most I have heard of before, but there was actually a group of serial killers called the Jijon Clique that murdered five people and ate them in 1993 that I had not heard of before:

There was a crime group that systematically murdered people as well.

Kim Ki-hwan, 25 at the time, organized the group dubbed the “Jijon clique” in July, 1993. All in their 20s, they had hated the rich and decided to “act out.”

Their first target was a 23-year-old factory worker, who they raped and killed in 1994. They also set up a makeshift jail and incineration facility in a basement of the leader’s house in South Jeolla Province.

While it all started from their frustration against the rich and the economic polarization in society, their targeted victims were not always wealthy. One of the five people they killed was also one of their members, Song Bong-eun, who tried to secede from the group.

In September, 1994, they kidnapped four people and killed three of them in the most brutal ways. One victim, after being tortured, escaped to report the gang to the police. The six members were finally caught and were executed in November the same year.

In their testimony, one of the members revealed that they had practiced cannibalism, because they “gave up on being human.”  [Korea Herald]

You can read more about South Korea’s past serial killers at the link.  However, one serial killer not mentioned in the article that may also be its most famous is the Hwaseong Serial Killer that has never been caught.  The killings were featured in one of Korea’s most well known crime movies, “Memories of Murder ” which I highly recommend watching for those who haven’t seen it already.

It seems like amateur hour over at the NCIS over at Okinawa.  First of all their sting operation seems quite shady using pictures of a 22-year old woman posing as a 15-year old and then hiding evidence from the defense afterwards:

Bilecki had made the question of the missing video a key part of his client’s defense prior to it being found. Introducing the video mid-trial violated discovery rules, Bilecki said.

Kimball had been on temporary duty at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, when he met an undercover Navy agent online, who claimed to be 15, Bilecki said.

The two exchanged text messages for about 20 days, Bilecki said. The agent sent at least four videos and 18 photos to Kimball. However, Bilecki said that several photos showed the agent as a 22-year-old, which could have sent his client a mixed message.

Kimball arranged to meet the agent at the Olympic Mall on base and was arrested upon arrival.

The arrest was one of dozens in a multiyear NCIS operation aimed at catching personnel interested in sex with minors on Okinawa, where about half of all U.S. forces in Japan are based. Bilecki’s Hawaii-based firm has represented multiple defendants in such cases.

“I don’t have an issue if law enforcement wants to run an undercover operation where they are targeting servicemembers seeking underage sex online,” Bilecki, a former military attorney, said Friday. “The issue our law firm has is when they use … forms of inducement and entrapment to arrest otherwise innocent individuals who are not looking to meet minors.”  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

It makes me wonder how many other Korean schools over the years have been conducting illegal wage skimming of foreign English teachers as well?:

Kyonggi Elementary School has been accused of skimming the wages of eight foreign teachers over several years with a contract clause that turned out to be illegal.

The wages that were taken from the native English teachers amounted to 45 million won ($40,240), with some losing more than 10 million won, according to labor attorney Jung Bong-soo, who represents the victims. They filed a collective complaint with the Seoul Regional Ministry of Employment and Labor in March, demanding reimbursement of their losses and replacing current contracts with “fair” ones.

The skimmed income ― 10 percent of their hourly wage ― was transferred to an independent Korean recruiter, who searched for and hired native English teachers on behalf of the private school in Seodaemun, northwestern Seoul.

The recruiter, surnamed Joo, is known to have introduced himself as a school adviser and is said to have drafted the contracts, including the controversial clause. The victims said they had signed their contracts not knowing the clause enforcing the monthly deduction was illegal. Under Korean employment law, giving recruiters a portion of a person’s first salary as an “introduction fee” is legal, but recruiters are not allowed to make regular deductions.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at at the link.

I am not a lawyer so I am wondering if anyone who is a lawyer knows if news media articles can be considered evidence in a US court?  If so how strong of evidence would that be?:

Former President Park Geun-hye attended her first court hearing over the corruption scandal that removed her from office and denied all charges against her, Tuesday.

This is the first time in 53 days that she has made a public appearance since she was arrested, March 31.

Handcuffed and with her trademark hairstyle, Park arrived at the Seoul Central District Court before entering the courtroom at 10 a.m.

Park and her confidant of 40 years Choi Soon-sil saw each other for the first time in eight months since Choi left for Germany last September after the corruption scandal broke out.

Park entered the courtroom first and sat looking straight ahead not turning her head even the slightest, while Choi entered the courtroom and sat two seats away from her, next to her attorney Lee Kyung-jae.

When asked by presiding Judge Kim Se-yun, on her current occupation, Park said, “I don’t have an occupation.”

When offered a chance to speak, Choi whimpered and said, “I am a sinner for having Park whom I’ve been close to for more than 40 years stand trial.”

“I do not believe Park was involved in any criminal activities, bribery or otherwise. I think the prosecution is pushing this too far, and I wish the court would clear her of the suspected wrongdoings thereby letting her remain as the president who devoted her life to the country.”

Choi blamed her former associate Park Won-oh, a former head of the Korea Equestrian Federation, over allegations that Samsung offered financial support for her daughter, the former dressage competitor Chung Yoo-ra.

“My daughter already had her own horse when she was in Germany. Then Park asked Samsung for support and Samsung bought a horse and a car. I can take responsibility for that, but not the charges by the prosecution that the support for my daughter was in return for the government-backed merger of Samsung’s two units,” she said.

Park’s defense attorney Yoo Young-ha said the charges against her lacked foundation and largely relied on imagination, inference and media reports.

“Most of the evidence submitted by the prosecution is news articles. The prosecution determined news reports valid as evidence in a criminal case,” he said.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

It just seems that this is a pretty bold theft to try and pull off with little reward when they were trying to sell the HMMWVs for $10,000 a piece:

A U.S. soldier and six South Korean civilians have been accused of being part of a ring that stole three Humvees from a U.S. base in South Korea and tried to sell them, police said Thursday.

The soldier, identified only as a 47-year-old Korean-American man, allegedly conspired with the others to arrange for three Humvees to be stolen from the base in June and September of last year, police said.

The thefts were carried out by camouflaging the vehicles to appear as unused items, said Kim Dong Hwan, chief detective of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s international crime investigation unit.

“The soldier insists that he was not trying to steal the vehicles with the rest of the guys,” Kim told Stars and Stripes. “The Koreans kept denying what they did at first. But they’ve been saying lately that they attempted to sell the Humvees.”

Kim said it was the first time police have uncovered a ring trafficking in stolen Humvees in South Korea.

The suspects — who also included a civilian contractor working on the base, three junk dealers, a film-prop maker and an intermediary — have been booked without detention.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

These are not the lobsters you are looking for……:

A South Korean importer has been arrested for selling American lobsters under a Canadian label for two and a half years, the South Regional Headquarters of the Korea Coast Guard said Tuesday.

The importer, identified only as 53-year-old Kim, is accused of importing 18 tons of American lobsters worth 2.13 billion won (US$1.9 million) in 321 shipments from September 2014 to March this year and selling them to local restaurants as more expensive Canadian products, the maritime police agency said.

Kim earned about 2.6 billion won from the alleged fraud, as American lobsters are about 20 percent cheaper than their Canadian counterparts in the local market, the agency added.

The agency noted that Kim replaced the origin labels of imported lobsters and fabricated the relevant documents to sell them as Canadian products to local restaurant owners.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.