Jee killing a warning to Korean businessmen, PNP official

Choi Kyung-jin and her husband Jee Ick Joo. INQUIRER FILE

South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo was murdered as a warning to Korean and Chinese businessmen who refuse to pay extortion money to certain government officials, the Philippine National Police’s anti-kidnapping chief revealed.

“The motive behind it was to murder him,” Senior Supt. Glenn Dumlao, chief of the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG), told reporters in Camp Crame on Monday.

Dumlao said Jee was killed to instill fear among Korean and Chinese businessmen who refuse to pay extortion money to certain government officials. He did not identify the officials and the agencies they belong to.

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“Jee was a straight person. Ayaw niya sa extortion,” Dumlao said.

“Dahil ayaw niya sa extorrtion, pati ‘yung mga ibang legitimate na Korean and Chinese businessman, ayaw na ring magbayad sa mga nage-extort. Kaya ‘yan ‘yung sinasabing mafia-style to kill a person to instill fear sa iba. That way, magbibigay na rin ‘yung iba,” the AKG chief added.

Dumlao said SPO3 Ricky Sta. Isabel and other suspects were a part of a bigger syndicate even as he reiterated that the “Korean mafia” angle had not been established.

READ: ‘Korean mafia’ angle in Jee kidnap-slay ‘a stretch’—Lacson

Last October, Sta. Isabel and two other members of the defunct PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Group strangled Jee to death inside the PNP headquarters after they took him from his home in Angeles City, Pampanga.

Sta. Isabel’s group then demanded ransom money from Jee’s wife Choi Kyung-jin. Choii, thinking Jee was still alive, paid P5 million. CBB/rga