Korean Kidnap Suspect Loose in Philippines

By Kim Rahn (Koreatimes.com)
Staff Reporter

A kidnap suspect, identified as Kim, on the run with 10 billion won ($10 million) was released by police in the Philippines, Friday, as he had not violated any of the country's laws.

Kim and nine accomplices are suspected of abducting and holding a wealthy man in Seoul for more than 80 days, and taking three billion won from his bank accounts. They also took 7.8 billion won of loans from banks, forcing the hostage to provide his real estate as collateral.

After police launched an investigation, the kidnappers released their hostage Tuesday and fled. Kim went to the Philippines.

Korean police received a call that tipped them off to the whereabouts of the 50-year-old suspect. Upon request, the Filipino local police caught Kim at a hotel in Manila and took him to a police station Thursday evening.

They found Kim had not violated Philippine law and transferred him to the immigration office. However, immigration officials also failed to find any violation of their immigration law, and had to release him Friday morning. Korean police asked for the cooperation of Interpol.

``Korea has a criminal extradition treaty with the Philippines, but as the police request was unofficial Filipino police cannot arrest him even though he is on the Interpol watch list. The Filipino immigration office could only seize his passport,'' an officer said.

He added that the Ministry of Justice will have to contact its Philippine counterpart to officially request the extradition of Kim, but this could take some time due to the complicated procedure.

Police here banned Kim's accomplices from leaving the country, and are tracing how they managed to extract the 10 billion won from their victim. Korea has extradition treaties with 28 nations, but only 50 criminals have been extradited so far.