Anchor: It has been made known that the murder of a South Korean businessman by local police officers in the Philippines last October was carried out at the country's national police headquarters in Manila. The revelation has stirred immense controversy in both South Korea and the Philippines as a foreign national was found to have been killed at the heart of Manila's law enforcement authority.
Mina Cha has more.
Report: It was on October 18th last year when a 53-year-old South Korean man identified by his surname Ji was kidnapped from his home in Angeles City.
He was found to have been taken to the headquarters of the Philippine National Police(PNP) in the capital Manila and later killed there.
According to the South Korean Embassy in the Philippines on Thursday, three local police officers forced Ji into their vehicle, saying he needed to undergo a drug-related investigation at the police headquarters.
The kidnappers pulled over at a parking lot next to the narcotic control department building and strangled Ji, who is believed to have had his face and hands bound by duct tape.
To destroy evidence, the suspects incinerated his body at a crematorium run by a former police officer.
According to the Philippine police, there were no grounds to suspect Ji of a drug-related crime. Police say the perpetrators killed the man for ransom.
His wife was found to have paid them the equivalent of 100-thousand U.S. dollars on October 31st.
South Korean Consul in the Philippines Kim Dae-hee called the crime unbelievable.
[Sound bite: Kim Dae-hee, Consul - South Korean Embassy in the Philippines (Korean)]
“I can’t either understand or accept it. I am a police officer myself, but this is unimaginable.”
The Philippine public was also taken aback by the heinous crime committed by incumbent police officers at the headquarters of the police authorities.
Philippine National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa apologized for the incident through local media outlets, saying it makes him embarrassed and furious.
Philippine prosecutors have requested arrest warrants for all of the eight people involved in the killing of Ji, including the three police officers.
South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which first disclosed the incident to the Korean public on Tuesday, called on the Philippine authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into the case.
Mina Cha, KBS World Radio News.