What a mess this entire Burger King murder case has been over the past 2 decades, but fortunately some justice appears to have finally be served in this case. Still 20 years in prison still seems too lenient for this guy:
Arthur Patterson
A Seoul court on Friday convicted U.S. citizen Arthur Patterson of murder in the lurid Itaewon murder case and sentenced him to 20 years in prison, almost 19 years after the murder.
The Seoul Central District Court found the 36-year-old guilty of fatally stabbing Hongik University student Cho Jung-pil on April 3, 1997, in a Burger King in the capital’s popular Itaewon district.
Cho was found dead in the restroom of a fast food restaurant, stabbed nine times in the neck and chest.
“There was credibility in confessions by Edward Lee, while Patterson’s comments were inconsistent and contradicted evidence,” the Seoul Central District Court said in the ruling.
Patterson was extradited to Korea in September to face charges in a reopened investigation into the case and maintained his innocence throughout.
Patterson has denied the murder charge, blaming Lee. The two men were both in the restaurant at the time of the murder, and both accused the other of being the killer.
The court said Patterson’s bloodstained clothes and hands pinpointed him as the assailant. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
Government officials attend a ceremony at a port in Gunsan, southwest of Seoul, on Jan. 29, 2016, for the first rice export to China. The first shipment of 30 tons will leave the port next month for Shanghai, where they will be marketed at Lotte Market outlets. South Korea has been working for the last seven years to have rice exported to the neighboring country, hindered by quarantine requirements. (Yonhap)
If the North Koreans move forward their rocket test this would give Seoul additional political cover to move forward with the deployment of THAAD to Korea which the Chinese have been against. If seems that if the Chinese are so concerned about the deployment of THAAD they should do more to control their North Korean allies:
Deployment of the United States’ advanced missile defense system, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, in South Korea will be helpful in defending the country from North Korean threats, but the country has no plans to announce any decision on the matter in the near future, a defense official said Friday.
“Our government will consider every measure to prepare against North Korea’s missile threats,” the Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said.
“If U.S. Forces Korea deploys THAAD, it will help our national security and defense,” Kim said.
The official government stance signals the U.S. move to deploy the THAAD system inside the USFK is gaining momentum in South Korea.
It also marks a step forward from the country’s more cautious stance in the past that South Korea will weigh the THAAD issue in accordance with national security interests.
Earlier in the day, the U.S.-based Wall Street Journal reported the U.S. could announce next week or so that the two countries are in negotiations over the THAAD system. [Yonhap]
This is some pretty harsh punishment for not helping make a lunchbox. Unsurprisingly the assault involved alcohol:
A father, identified only as Jeong, 40, has been arrested for stabbing his teenage son for not listening to him, Yonhap reported Sunday.
Police in Ulsan said Jeong stabbed his son, 14, twice – once in the chest and once in the leg on Jan. 13. He told them he stabbed the teenager because the boy did not help him prepare a lunchbox for the daughter, 10. The father was drunk, having consumed half a bottle of soju, police said.
Jeong then carried his son to an emergency room. The boy is in a hospital receiving treatment.
The man recently separated from his wife and was raising the two children, police said. Jeong did not have a criminal record but was arrested to protect the boy, they said [Korea Times]
A pleasure boat sails through the frozen surface of the Han River bisecting Seoul on Jan. 24, 2016, as South Korea experienced the coldest weather this winter the same day with temperatures dropping to record lows. The temperature in Seoul fell to 18 C below zero, the lowest since Jan. 15, 2001, when the mercury dropped to 18.6 C below zero, the Korea Meteorological Administration said. (Yonhap)
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]
A group of students sleep under vinyl sheets next to a statue erected in front of the Japanese Embassy on Jan. 24, 2016. South Korea experienced the coldest weather this winter on Jan. 24 with temperatures dropping to near record lows. As of 5 a.m., the temperature in Seoul was minus 17 degrees Celsius, while the wind chill was minus 23.8 degrees. Historians estimate more than 200,000 women, mostly Koreans, were forced into sexual slavery at front-line Japanese brothels during World War II. The protest came after Seoul and Tokyo reached an agreement on Dec. 28 on the issue, which sparked a wave of public protests among victims and their supporters, who claim the deal was reached without reflecting the victims’ opinions. (Yonhap)
People enjoy playing tug-of-war at a winter cultural festival in Gangwon Province, South Korea, on Jan. 23, 2016 while the country continued to be swept by a cold wave with temperatures dropping to below minus 10 degrees Celsius in many parts of the country. (Yonhap)
