South Korean envoy appeals to PNP to solve killings of two citizens

May 29, 2018

South Korean Ambassador Hang Dong-man on Tuesday appealed to the Philippine National Police (PNP) to solve killings of two of its citizens this year in his speech during the turnover of 130 patrol vehicles in Quezon City.

“I asked chief PNP Albayalde to set up a special task force to investigate and arrest the criminals responsible,” Han said in his speech.

In February, businessman Shang Ho Lee was shot dead by motorcycle-riding gunmen in Mandaue.

In May, a tourist named Kim Woon Oh was found with a gunshot wound on his back in a grassy area in Novahills Subdivision in Barangay 171, Caloocan.

Han said there have been fewer killings of Koreans since President Rodrigo Duterte took office in 2016. During the previous administration, Han said around 10 of their citizens are killed yearly.

“Through the cooperation between the PNP and and the Korean national police authority, the number of killings drastically dropped to one last year,” he said.

In 2016, South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo was allegedly strangled to death by rogue cops inside Camp Crame, the PNP's headquarters. Duterte sent Presidential Legal Adviser Salvador Panelo to Seoul to convey the government's apologies.

The suspects in Jee's kidnap-slay case are undergoing hearings in a Pampanga court.

“We promised the ambassador that we will do everything to solve these cases,” PNP Director General Oscar Albayalde said in an interview with reporters. DMS