Koreans raise funds for PNP crime probes

Koreans living in the country have been raising funds to support the Philippine National Police in investigating crimes committed against their compatriots, according to their embassy in Manila.

The mission spoke of the assistance being extended by the United Korean Community Association in the Philippines, as it thanked the PNP for the capture of four of the seven suspects in the abduction and murder of a 21-year-old Korean female student last March.

According to the embassy, Lee Ji-won was abducted when she took a taxi and was later found murdered. The suspects included the taxi driver.

“The Embassy of the Republic of Korea is pleased with this development and is grateful to the PNP for the successful operation,” the embassy said Wednesday in a statement, adding it was “optimistic” that the police would also be able to capture the three other suspects.

The statement did not say how much the Korean community had so far raised for the police, but said it “will be the source of incentives to be given for the speedy resolution of cases, as well as for publication of a bulletin that will inform Koreans on safety measures and self-defense techniques.”

The embassy reported that nine Koreans had been killed in the Philippines since January this year.

Aside from Lee, they included businessman Bae Minju who was slain in a car-jacking incident on July 27. Bae’s wife was kidnapped in that incident but was later released unharmed.

The embassy expressed hope that the PNP would also succeed in solving Bae’s murder and capturing his killers. “With one of the suspects—the family driver—already in police custody, it is expected that the coconspirators will soon be apprehended and brought to justice.”

Last month, the embassy expressed alarm over Lee’s killing as well as the rising number of Korean nationals being killed in violent crimes. It said the “brutal and senseless” murder of Lee had “rattled” the Korean community in the Philippines.

Korean Ambassador Hyuk Lee then sought the help of the PNP, the Department of Interior and Local Government, and the Office of the President “in the hope that an intensified effort on the part of the Philippine government to curb criminality will lead to a safer environment for Korean nationals.”

The diplomat also asked the law enforcement agencies to undertake measures “to prevent motor vehicles, taxicabs in particular, from being used as a means to commit crimes, or from being targeted for kidnapping, or carnapping by organized criminal syndicates.”

The implementation of these measures would help ease the anxiety of Koreans “who have been coming to the Philippines in greater numbers either as tourists or as investors.” Christine O. Avendaño