BANGKOK – The South Criminal Court of Bangkok has approved arrest warrants for three South Korean suspects in the kidnapping and murder of Mr. Roh Eui Jong, a 34-year-old Korean who went missing in Bangkok before May 7. His body, which had been found in a plastic barrel filled with cement in a Pattaya reservoir on May 11, was confirmed by DNA results on May 14.
Pol. Maj. Gen. Somkuan Phuenthap, Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau and chairman of the joint meeting of investigating officers in this case, revealed that although all ten fingers of the victim were cut off to destroy fingerprint evidence, the results of the DNA test compared with the deceased’s father, including his sister and cousin who traveled to confirm that the body found was Mr. Roh Eui Jong.
CCTV footage from several points in Bangkok, especially at RCA, Bangkok’s entertainment area, showed that Mr. Roh was taken away in a car by three men who were also South Korean. After that, Mr. Roh’s mother received a phone call from a mysterious person threatening to extort 3 million baht from her for ransom.
“The investigation team has gathered quite clear evidence, both images and personal witnesses, renters and lessors, guarantors for the rental, and related evidence that complements who else was involved,” the Deputy Commissioner said.
The suspects in this case are Mr. Lee Roun, 25 years old, Mr. Kim Hyeonngwon, 38 years old, and Mr. Lee Yongjin, 29 years old. They were arrested on charges of jointly coercing others to act, not act, or submit to something by making them fearful of danger to life, body, liberty, reputation, or property; jointly using tricks, deception, coercion, violence, abuse of power, or jointly detaining or confining others, or committing any act to deprive others of their physical freedom, causing the detained person to die in order to obtain a ransom.
In addition, there are also charges of jointly killing another person to take or retain benefits arising from other offenses committed to conceal one’s own offenses or to evade punishment for other offenses committed, concealing, moving, or destroying a corpse or part of a corpse to conceal the death or cause of death, and jointly stealing property and illegally using another person’s electronic card.
Pol. Maj. Gen. Somkuan said that after the court approved the issuance of arrest warrants, the investigation team accelerated coordination with Interpol and the South Korean police to bring the two perpetrators to Thailand for immediate prosecution, as Thailand and South Korea already have an extradition treaty between them.
Initially, from the investigative approach, it was found that the motive involved property, and no other issues were found.
The autopsy results currently indicate that the deceased had been dead for about 3-4 days, but it is not yet possible to specify in depth at what time or where the death occurred. However, the investigation found that the murder may have occurred between the area of Bangkok and Chonburi province, as blood traces were found as evidence in many areas.
After this, the investigation team will have to thoroughly examine the timeline again, as it is still found that there are some missing time points that need to be investigated urgently.
Prior to this, according to a report by Yonhap, a South Korean news agency, a suspect in his 20s was arrested at his residence in the southwestern city of Jeongeup on Sunday evening and placed under emergency arrest. The Gyeongnam Provincial Police stated that the suspect has denied all charges brought against him during an overnight police interrogation.
Later on May 14, another suspect was nabbed at a lodging in Phnom Penh at around midnight following a tip-off that a South Korean suspected of involvement in the case was spotted in the area.
The authorities suspect that the third suspect fled from Thailand to Myanmar.
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