PNP urged: Solve Koreans’ slays

MANILA, Philippines — South Korea yesterday appealed to the Philippine National Police (PNP) to solve the killings of two of its citizens this year.

South Korean Ambassador Han Dong-man yesterday urged PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde to look into the murders of their two citizens in Caloocan City and Mandaue City, Cebu.

“I asked chief PNP Albayalde to set up a special task force to investigate and arrest the criminals responsible,” Han said in his speech during the ceremonial turn over of 130 patrol vehicles to the PNP at Camp Karingal in Quezon City.

In February, businessman Shang Ho Lee was shot dead by motorcycle-riding gunmen in Mandaue.

Just this month, a Korean tourist identified as Kim Woon Oh was found with a gunshot wound in his back in a grassy area in Novahills Subdivision in Barangay 171, Caloocan.

Policemen brought him to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. Closed-circuit television footage showed unidentified occupants of a van dumping Kim in the area.

Han acknowledged that there have been fewer killings of Koreans since President Duterte took office in 2016.

In the previous administration, Han said around 10 of their citizens are killed every year in the Philippines.

“Through the cooperation between the PNP and the Korean national police authority, the number of killings drastically dropped to one last year,” he said.

Albayalde said they are doing their best to solve the killings.

“We promised the ambassador that we will do everything to solve these cases,” he said in an interview with reporters.

As for the patrol vehicles, Han said the donation, worth $6.6 million, is part of their efforts to help the PNP in addressing crime in the country.

“We will continue to work together because we are in the same boat,” he told reporters in an interview at the event, which was also attended by Korean National Police Agency Commissioner General Lee Chul-Sung.

The vehicles consist of 49 Hyundai Elantra sedans and 81 Starex vans.The vehicles will be distributed to the PNP Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, Anti-Kidnapping Group, Anti-Cybercrime Group, National Capital Region Police Office and city police offices of Angeles, Cebu, Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue, Davao and Baguio, where there are Korean communities.

Albayalde instructed police officers to take good care of the vehicles or face sanctions.

He admitted that some police units still lack vehicles, noting that at least two precincts in Caloocan do not have a motorcycle.

“Even in Metro Manila alone, we have a shortage of patrol units,” Albayalde said.