Kidnap victim ‘owed me money, threatened me’

Detained Korean businessman Song Sung Heum yesterday said he was a vicim of injustice and denied being the mastermind of the Oct. 24 kidnapping of another Korean and his girlfriend in Cebu City.

In his counter-affidavit to to the Cebu City Prosecutors’ Office, Song said he never ordered anyone to kidnap Jun Hyun Chung and his Filipina companion.

“He (Chung) used to be my friend but we had a spat sometime in August 2012 because he kept asking money from me, little by little, and he just gambled it in the casino,” he said.

The detainee said Chung borrowed 350,000 Korean Won or close to P1.3 million but didn’t pay it back.

“He even threatened to shoot me if I will come back to Cebu,” he said.

Police who arrested Song upon his arrival at the Mactan Cebu International Airport last Oct. 24, said the kidnapping, wherein fake policemen handcuffed and forced the victim and his girlfriend to ride a car, was related to an unpaid P4 million debt.

Song, 32, however, described himself as a “an ordinary businessman in South Korea” who came to Cebu to invest in the business of importing second hand Korean cars.

He said the accusations leveled against him are “plain surmises, if not hearsay statement, which are false and very damaging to my reputation.”

“I never ordered anyone to kidnap them,” Song said.

Song and three Filipinos are facing charges of kidnapping for ransom.

Asst. City Prosecutor Rhodna Bacatan is still evaluating the case.

Song said he traveled to Cebu last Oct. 24 to explore a business in importing Korean second-hand cars,

He said he first came to Cebu in March 2012 and was introduced to Chung by another Korean who advised him to be a financier of casino VIP guests.

Song said Chung helped him in the business but kept on asking money from him.

Song was charged along with his alleged cohorts Leonard Bulabon, Gregorio Dealagdon, and Richard Dealagdon.

Song, in his counteraffidavit, said he didn’t know the three Filipinos.

In a meeting with Korean community leaders on Thursday, Senior Supt. Rey Lyndon Lawas, Lapu-Lapu City police chief, said they agreed to coordinate with the Korean police attache in monitoring the presence of Korean fugitives (see related story page 4).

Lawas said Korean police attaché, Jeung Hyun Woo told them that it was possible that there were Korean fugitives that may have entered the country since no visa was needed to visit the Philippines. With a story from Reporter Jucell Marie P. Cuyos