This crime is absolutely horrible. It almost seems like they wanted to get caught though leaving body parts of their son at their friend’s house:
Parents accused of the murder and dismemberment of their 7-year-old boy return to their former residence in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, for a reenactment of the crime, Thursday. The father, left, surnamed Choi, 34, and the mother, surnamed Han, 34, allegedly beat their son for about two hours prior to his death in November, 2012, and then dismembered him. / Yonhap
A couple, detained by police on suspicion of killing their seven-year-old son before dismembering and abandoning the severed body parts, have participated in a reenactment of the alleged offenses.
Officers at the Wonmi Police Station in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, on Thursday took the father, surnamed Choi, 34, and the mother, surnamed Han, 34, to four places where the murder and mutilation of the corpse allegedly took place ― a public restroom at a community center located in Bucheon, their former and current residences in Bucheon and Incheon, respectively, and the home of Choi’s friend in Incheon.
Handcuffed and wearing masks and baseball caps, Choi and Han did not make any comments to reporters. According to officers they did not show agitation or remorse while taking part in the crime reenactment.
Also according to police, the boy’s remains were found in a bag in the home of a friend of Choi last Friday. The couple initially said that their son was injured after falling in the bathroom while resisting being washed in October 2012. They said they did not take the boy to a hospital and he died about a month later. They also said they mutilated the body and kept the remains in the refrigerator of their home even after they moved to Incheon, and had recently put them in the bag and asked the friend to look after it. But they deny killing the boy.
However, according to police, they told a different story on Wednesday. Choi, who frequently inflicted violence on his son, beat him for about two hours on the night of Nov. 7, 2012, allegedly while under the influence of alcohol.
The next day, Han went to work and Choi realized in the afternoon that the boy had died. [Korea Times]
On April 15, 2006 a group of USFK Soldiers Private First Class. Nicholas Acosta, Private Jesse D. Findley, Specialist Nick W. Davis and Specialist Shawn R. Kiely along with Davis’ wife and one of her friends went out to the A1 Club in the Dongducheon ville to celebrate a birthday. After spending some time at the club the group decided to leave which is when something happened that would have profound consequences for the Soldiers in the group:
Upon leaving, a South Korean man downstairs gave Acosta, Findley and Kiely “a weird look” and began speaking in Korean to Kiely, Acosta said.
“I told Kiely, ‘Just go, go,’” Acosta said. “I tried to calm the Korean down, but there was a lack of communication. Then he came between me and the wall, and hit Kiely.”
The Korean man, 19-year-old Lee Yong-whan, told police the fight started when he and a soldier bumped shoulders. [Stars & Stripes]
So basically people who had been drinking and could not properly communicate bumped shoulders and the confrontation ultimately turned into a brawl. Some how during the fight the Korean group with Lee got access to a metal pipe to beat the Soldiers with.
This photo, provided by Pfc. Nicholas Acosta’s defense attorney, shows what Acosta claims are injuries from an April 15 incident in which he says he was hit with a metal pole outside a bar. The attorney and Acosta said the photo was taken shortly after the incident. (Stars & Stripes)
The group of Americans tried to get away from the group of Koreans by exiting the club and jumping into a taxi cab. Unfortunately the taxi cab’s window was down and SPC Kiely was still getting punched through the window. The Soldiers screamed at the taxi driver to start moving, but the Koreans demanded that the taxi driver get out. The driver exited the taxi and the attack on the Americans continued. This is when PFC Acosta decided to jump into the driver’s seat and steal the taxi:
“I didn’t want to steal the taxi,” Acosta said. “Davis was a mess and Kiely was still getting hit. The only thing we could do was take the vehicle and get out of it.”
Acosta drove for about a mile before being stopped by Korean National Police, he said. [Stars & Stripes]
Stealing the taxi worked to escape the brawl, but it ended up turning an already bad situation into an even worse one. The Korean police stopped the group by firing warning shots into the air telling them to exit the taxi. The Soldiers exited the taxis and took out their military ID cards, but the police according to the group began to beat them with batons. The police deny this accusation. Acosta and the other Soldiers decided not to file a complaint against the Dongducheon police because they did not want to complicate the legal process any more than they needed to.
The ROK Legal Process
Since Acosta stole the taxi he was charged with the most serious crimes of assault, illegal use of a vehicle, property damage, drunken driving and driving without a license. Korean prosecutors were seeking an 18-month jail sentence for Acosta. The other Soldiers involved in the fight all received fines from the city of Uijeongbu. During the legal proceedings a common issue for Soldiers in ROK court surfaced again when PFC Acosta complained that he could not understand his court appointed translator:
Pfc. Nicholas Acosta enters the Uijeongbu District Court on Wednesday prior to his hearing on charges of assault, illegal use of a vehicle, property damage, drunken driving and driving without a license in connection with a fight outside a bar in Dongducheon on April 15.
The soldiers repeatedly asked the translators to clarify questions, and defense attorney Jin Hyo-keun had to translate some of the proceedings for his clients. Also, Judge Jung Jin-ho ordered the junior of the two translators to take over the duties over the senior translator’s objections.
When the soldiers left the courtroom before noon, both complained to their attorney, saying they didn’t understand what was happening in court. (………)
During Wednesday’s testimony, a Stars and Stripes translator heard the judge ask both soldiers, separately, whether they “admitted” to various aspects of their cases. The court translators, however, asked the soldiers only whether they were “aware” of those aspects. The soldiers answered “yes” to nearly every question. [Stars & Stripes]
Acosta’s defense lawyer lodged a complaint which led the court to replace the translators for the sentencing hearing. He did not want to demand a re-trial because he felt that the $9,000 restitution Acosta agreed to pay to the Koreans that beat him would lead to a suspended sentence. Acosta’s defense lawyer would be proven correct when he received a suspended sentence from the Korean court:
Judge Jung Jin-ho sentenced the soldier, Pfc. Nicholas Acosta, to eight months in prison for assault, property damage, drunken driving and driving without a license in connection with the incident. Jung suspended Acosta’s sentence for two years on the condition the soldier stays out of trouble in South Korea.
Acosta blew a sigh of relief and smiled at fellow soldiers as he left the courtroom, but he refused to comment. Prosecutors had sought an 18-month jail sentence. [Stars & Stripes]
Acosta followed good legal advice by apologizing to the court, paying restitution and keeping quiet during the ROK legal process. This is the best way to try and receive a suspended sentence. On the Korean side of this incident the only person to face punishment was the instigator of the fight, Lee Yong-whan who admitted to starting the fight and was fined $2,000 which was later dropped to $1,500:
Jung dismissed an appeal by 19-year-old Lee Yong-whan, the South Korean accused of starting the April 15 fight. Lee complained that his 2 million won (about $2,000) fine is excessive.
The judge said he understood that Lee faces financial difficulties and knocked off 500,000 won (about $500) for the one day that Lee spent in police confinement.
But Jung warned Lee that since he started the fight, the remaining fine was just.
Lee told Stars and Stripes that while he feels “partly responsible” for the fight, the fine isn’t fair.
Seeing Acosta in his dress uniform — Lee was in the courthouse audience as he waited for his separate appearance — was difficult, Lee added.
“Yes, when seeing the soldier, I feel furious,” he said. [Stars & Stripes]
I am not sure what Lee feels so furious about when Acosta is the one that was beaten down with a metal pipe and forced to pay $9,000 in restitution which is enough money for Lee to pay off his own fine.
Conclusion
The biggest lesson people should learn from this 2006 incident is that you do not necessarily have the right to self defense in Korea, especially as a foreigner. PFC Acosta was assaulted and beaten with a metal pipe and he was the one facing serious jail time and forced to pay $9,000 in restitution to the people that beat him. Getting into a physical altercation in Korea should be the absolute last resort and whatever you do never pull out a weapon because that just makes things worse. It is always better to just apologize and if that doesn’t work, run away from a possible altercation. Just make sure not to steal a taxi cab in the process of escaping.
Note:You can read more GI Flashbacks articles by clicking on the below link:
Via a reader tip comes the below story of two South Korean teenagers allegedly kept as slaves in New York City. I don’t know who is worse, the woman treating them like slaves or the parents who apparently abandoned them with this woman in the first place:
Authorities say a New York City woman kept two South Korean children as slaves in her home for six years.
District Attorney Richard Brown says Queens resident Sook Yeong Park took the sister and brother into her home in 2010 and cut off contact with their parents. The children are now 14 and 16.
Brown says Park seized the children’s passports, forced them to do household chores into the night and made them work at a grocery store and turn their earnings over to her.
Park was arraigned Saturday on charges of labor trafficking, assault and endangering the welfare of a child. Her attorney did not immediately return a call.
Brown says the abuse came to light when a high school assistant principal noticed bruises on the girl’s legs. [Fox News]
Imagine how much money Soldiers could make if they could sue superiors who yell at them for stupid stuff? That is basically what is going on with this lawsuit against former Korean Air executive Heather Cho:
A New York court has dismissed a suit filed by “nut rage” incident victim Park Chang-jin against former Korean Air heiress and Executive Vice President Heather Cho (Korean name – Cho Hyun-ah), sources said Friday.
Previously, the same court dismissed a case brought by Kim Do-hee, a junior flight attendant over the incident.
Claiming that he suffered from a severe physical and mental breakdown after the incident, Park filed a suit with the Queens County Supreme Court in New York against Cho in July.
The written decision for the dismissal was not disclosed but experts said it was likely to follow the precedent of Kim who also sued Cho on the same charges last March.
In Kim’s case, Robert L. Nahman, a judge in charge on the U.S. Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of Queens, reportedly said upon the dismissal last month that it would be better if a Korean court dealt with the case because the plaintiff, the defendants and witnesses reside in Korea and all evidence is in Korea as well.
A series of the dismissals from the U.S court seemed to reflect Cho’s repeated requests insisting the New York court dismiss the suit so that she can stand trial in Korea.
Cho offered some 100 million won ($82,433) to Park and Kim through a Korean court to settle the case during her trial last year. But neither took the money and filed separate lawsuits in the U.S. instead. [Korea Times]
Here is the latest on the Itaewon Burger King murder trial:
Arthur Patterson
Prosecutors on Friday demanded 20 years in jail for a U.S. citizen charged with slaying a Korean man nearly two decades ago.
Arthur Patterson, who was 17 at the time, is accused of stabbing 22-year-old college student Cho Joong-pil multiple times to his death inside a bathroom at a Burger King in Itaewon, a neighborhood popular with foreigners here, in 1997.
During a hearing at the Seoul Central District Court, prosecutors demanded the maximum term for minors under the age of 18, saying the suspect should in fact be jailed for life.
In demanding the sentence, they cited the brutality of the crime, Patterson’s attitude during the trial, and their judgment based on reenactments of the scene at the time.
Patterson has insisted on his innocence, saying his then-friend Edward Lee committed the crime.
Lee was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1998 but later acquitted by the Supreme Court due to lack of evidence. [Yonhap]
Over at the Korean Law Blog the actual ROK law is posted in regards to self defense. Of interest is that if you ever got in a struggle with someone trying to kill you that required you to defend yourself to kill them you most likely get prosecuted for it:
Regrettably to many, Korea interprets the preceding Article 21 of Korea’s Criminal Act very narrowly. There is, only, one reported cases in the past 25 plus years where someone accused of murder has prevailed in a claim of self-defense. The only case I can find is the notorious Kongneung-Dong Murder Case. The case involved a break-in to a home that lead to the death of the burglar. The burglar was armed and he killed one person in the apartment.
The accused claimed, inter alia, that his act of killing the burglar was performed to “prevent impending and unjust infringement” (more injuries) of his “legal interest”(his life). He claimed that his only means of protecting his life was his actions. Additionally, the act of the burglar was at night.
The following charges still lead to charges by the police. The prosecution decided not to indict. [Korean Law Blog]
You can read more at the link, but the moral of the story is that if you have to defend yourself in Korea use as little force as possible even if someone is trying to kill you. A perfect example of the negative consequences that can happen is the 2004 Shinchon Stabbing Incident or the 1995 Seoul Subway Brawl. In these cases the GIs were punished for defending themselves while the Koreans that started the fights got away with no legal consequences.
The article doesn’t say if the person was a government civilian or contractor, but regardless he has been fired for having ecstasy pills mailed to him in South Korea:
An American civilian who worked at the U.S. military in South Korea has been indicted on charges of trafficking drugs to Yongsan Garrison in central Seoul, prosecutors said Friday.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said the 35-year-old, identified only by his initial J, is suspected of receiving 35 pills of MDMA, better known as “ecstasy,” and 20.5 grams of hemp from an unidentified seller last year.
Still, the suspect was not taken into custody.
The drugs were sent from the Netherlands and went through the distribution center for military posts at Incheon International Airport, Seoul’s main gateway, before arriving at the military base, prosecutors said.
The suspect, who worked with the 8th U.S. Army, was fired in September after being caught by South Korean police who received a tip from the U.S. military’s criminal investigation division. [Yonhap]
What I am wondering about most with this story is why is the police department paying their officers for up to 30 days pay when they are getting a paycheck already from the military when on orders? This is just another example of good intentions creating an incentive for people like this guy to cheat the taxpayer:
A former police officer with a little more than a year on the job has been arrested for going on a Hawaiian vacation with his girlfriend while he was receiving full pay from the department while he was purportedly on a deployment with the US Army Reserves, police said.
In a press release from Lt. Sean Cooney, commander of the Stamford police department’s Internal Affairs Division, recently resigned police officer Donald Chen, 30, has been charged with first-degree larceny and defrauding a public community and was released without bond.
“I’m extremely disappointed with what happened,” police Chief Jon Fontneau said Tuesday morning. Fontneau said that the department supports their military veterans in every way it can, including allowing them to go on deployments for up to 30 days a year with pay. “What we found to be was a case of fraud committed not only to the city of Stamford and its taxpayers and the U.S. Government,” he said.
Fontneau said that Chen, a former member of the US Army, resigned from the department before he could be fired. “He would have been fired,” Fontneau said. Chen will not receive a pension or any kind of a pay out. Fontneau said that the department will ask that prosecutors on Chen’s case apply for restitution of more than $2,000 that he was being paid for by the city for his military service. [Stars and Stripes]
That is at least what a Seoul court ruled earlier this week in a bribery case involving two teachers in Seoul:
A Seoul court on Wednesday ruled in favor of two private school teachers who accepted money and gifts from the parents of their students.
The teachers, who work at Gyeseong Elementary School, were both charged with taking bribes but later acquitted by the Seoul Central District Court.
The ruling prompted an angry response from those in the education circle, with Kim Hyung-nam, the inspector of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, calling the decision “embarrassing.”
One of the teachers, surnamed Shin, 48, stood accused of taking cash, gift certificates and gifts worth a total of 4.6 million won ($3,930) from two parents over multiple occasions when he taught fourth-grade last year.
The other, surnamed Kim, 45, was accused of accepting 4 million won as well as valuables from one parent.
The court ruled Wednesday that while Shin had accepted the money and gifts, those actions did not amount to bribe-taking.
He was asked to do general favors for the students, the court said, but did not carry out unlawful favors in return for compensation. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
All the more reason why I have no urge to ever holiday in the Philippines:
Investigators returned from the Philippines on Friday after looking into the recent shooting death of a South Korean man, adding they have found key evidence to narrow down the suspects.
A 57-year-old South Korean, identified only by his surname Cho, was shot to death by four unidentified, armed assailants on Sunday at his house in Batangas, some 100km south of Manila.
The incident raised the number of South Koreans killed in the Southeast Asian country to 11 this year. [Yonhap]
