Via the ExKorling comes news of a suspicious killing of a Korean couple in the Philippines:
Two Korean nationals were found dead at Go-Yhang Ville in Barangay Manibaug Paralaya here on Wednesday.
Pampanga Police Superintendent Rolly Mendoza, identified the fatalities as Oh Young Kwan, 38, and his wife Lee Hyen Koung of the Manibaug Paralaya village.
Investigations revealed that at 7:17 a.m. on Wednesday, the lifeless bodies of Kwan and Koung were found beside their residence.
Mendoza said Kwan sustained a bullet wound on his left cheek while Koung was shot in the head.
It was learned that the Porac police station received a text message from Danilo Macalimpas, a security guard at Go-Yhang Ville, about the lifeless bodies of the two Koreans lying on the pavement beside their house in the area.
Police found the bodies and recovered three empty shells of .45 caliber pistol.
The children of the victims, aged 9 and 10 said they saw from their room two men wearing camouflage pants, black jackets and black bonnets stabbing their father.
Mendoza said Koung was an educator in a Korean school in Angeles City.
The couple, along with their two children, was residing in the village for 10 months now.
Police investigators have yet to establish the motive behind the killing of the Korean couple. [Sun-Star]
If I had to guess it seems like these two really pissed someone off to be attacked like this. Seems like an execution type of murder and not just some random violence. However why someone would execute a teacher at a Korean school is anyone’s guess. I scanned through the Korean media webpages and didn’t see anything hit the Korean news wires yet which is a bit surprising because usually these type of stories at least get a headline on Yonhap. Definitely sucks for the kids to have to live through something like that.
Popularity: 4%
3:37 am on December 31st, 2007 1
How long before someone expat blogs blames the victim for being Koreans, being mean to Philippines so they deserved to be butchered.
5:17 am on December 31st, 2007 2
I’ve already seen that kind of response to this story on other blogs. It’s amazing how quickly a crime can be solved online…
6:38 am on December 31st, 2007 3
How did you come across this story? I can’t imagine you are a regular reader of the Sun-Star.
7:18 am on December 31st, 2007 4
Exkorling is a former Korean linguist who lives in the Philippines and his blog had the story posted on it. I noticed it when I was putting together my weekly linklets.
9:58 am on December 31st, 2007 5
“I’ve already seen that kind of response to this story on other blogs.”
Heh.. no big surprise there…
10:31 am on December 31st, 2007 6
Here’s the SBS version.
11:28 am on December 31st, 2007 7
Sounds to me this is a simple case of accidental shooting.
12:17 pm on December 31st, 2007 8
For many reasons, this kind a violence against foreigners in the Philippines is very, Very, VERY rare.
Because of this, it becomes very easy to blame the victim… not because they are Korean, but because they managed to get executed in a country that has an unwritten rule to leave the money-spending foreigners alone with violence and only practice crimes of stealth or trickery.
There is a possibility they were targeted accidentally after being mistaken for someone else… but that is slim… as (for the most part) violence of this nature does have a minimal degree of planning in the PI.
Drugs, politics, land fraud? Who knows.
Then again, I wouldn’t be too surprised to find the mastermind behind this was another Korean who has no problem spending a few hundred bucks to send a message that the social structure in Korea restricts.
If I were on the case, the first thing I’d check is what students were given a bad grade. This, of course, would not be the victim’s fault.
Sorry, Usual Suspects… I’m not blaming the victim… but you have to work rather hard to get executed in the PI… even harder than you have to work to get into a fight in Korea…
…but there are some idiots who find conflict on every subway ride, so who knows.
Time may tell. Keep on this one, GI.
12:18 pm on December 31st, 2007 9
Poor boys ….
4:56 pm on December 31st, 2007 10
Maybe it was someone disgusted by their driving habits
10:45 pm on December 31st, 2007 11
Maybe were the ETs …
6:53 am on January 1st, 2008 12
You mean their is more than One ET?
8:49 am on January 1st, 2008 13
Kingkitty,
Do you believe in ETs?
10:50 am on January 1st, 2008 14
Actually just one….
8:10 am on January 2nd, 2008 15
I was the one that tipped this story to GIKorea. I see that it’s not getting much press anywhere but the one SBS story and the original that I found in the Sun Star. I will update this story on my blog if I run into any updates on it. The Philippine press is notorious for dropping a story if it is not sensational enough so I might not see anything else on it.
My personal feeling on this is that even though it is a rarity for foreigners to be attacked here in the Philippines, the Korean way of coming in and setting up their little enclaves that exclude pretty much anyone but Koreans, and their underlying view of Filipinos being “beneath” them, could be fueling an undercurrent of resentment in the local Filipino population.
I’ll keep up with this if I see anything and let you all know via my blog or here on ROK Drop.
Tim in Angeles sendzzzzzzzzzzzzz
9:23 am on January 2nd, 2008 16
I was wondering how long it would take for someone to try to justify this crime.
So you are saying Koreans are being targeted and stabbed and shot in front of their children because Koreans have enclaves and ‘view Filipinos as beneath them’. That’s a fine excuse to butcher and kill people. American GI’s have always looked down on Koreans as beneath them, I guess it would be justified for Americans to be murdered too since there are under currents of anti americanism all throughout the world.
Maybe all Koreans should get the hell out of Philippines before they all get killed and then get blamed for their own demise.
11:46 am on January 2nd, 2008 17
Tim, you have to be more careful not to spring the trap, especially if the snare is set in the first comment.
3:42 am on January 3rd, 2008 18
Tom what in the world does any of this you wrote have to Do with ET or ETs? Try to stay on subject
3:47 am on January 3rd, 2008 19
Actually TOM
I could almost believe that’s true… until I notice that so many decisions in today’s military are based on ideology or appearance rather than necessity… or even reality.
And, in many cases, these decisions wind up spending more to accomplish less… or, at the least, make a big show of fixing something that isn’t really broken… or just changing the same old things around to make it look like everything is moving forward… or fixing an easy problem to pretend the hard one doesn’t exist… or… etc. You all know the deal.
Once drinking, smoking, pornography, etc., have all played out, some careerist jerkoff decides he can beat everyone else to a star if he comes up with something new… like an anti-gambling agenda.
Who can argue with that? People’s lives have been ruined! And it is in leadership’s power to stop it!
“But… if it can save just one soldier†is used as the excuse to make pages of restrictive, feel-good-sounding policy complete with fancy logos and snappy slogans, no matter how blatantly ridiculous, ineffective or infringing on the ultra-vast majority who have no need of further restrictions which claim to solve problems they don’t have… and will be quickly and easily circumvented by the targeted ultra-minority which actually need to be controlled for their own good (or, more probably, they need to be guided and supervised… “ledâ€, in other words).
Suddenly, emotion-playing catch phrases become more important to a dumbed-down leadership playing to a short-attention-span, celebrity-obsessed public (and media) than long, sensible explanations which accurately describe the true scope of a problem, its possible solutions and their side-effects.
And all the other spineless puss-tards in leadership are forced to go along with it while they silently cringe at the mind-numbing stupidity and counterproductiveness of the whole mess… and wonder how they can get brownie points by designing a quick fix to the inevitable problems the new policy will cause… a budget shortfall in the case of the slot machines.
In this case, nobody dares to insist on personal responsibility or point out that a few expendable idiots are funding the morale of many excellent soldiers… or they risk the career-ending labels of “pro-gambling†or “uncaring about soldiers and their familiesâ€â€¦
…yet, as much as they hate it, they kick themselves for not thinking of that little promotion-generating program first. Drat.
So… if this ball gets rolling, it will pick up speed quickly as everybody tries to look more caring for the plight of gambling-addicted soldiers and their families.
And if GI Joe wants to go on a fishing trip he can’t quite afford at full price, well… he can just put the balance on his Star Card.
See… problem solved.
The issues of slot machines encouraging corruption and the lack of help for gambling addicts who want to quit are serious issues… for next time.
3:52 am on January 3rd, 2008 20
Tom
Actually, especially in light of the post just before this one, if you wanted to stir the pot, you could mention that some archeologists have suggested the Kaya was a Japanese kingdom set up in Korea from which Japanese influence entered Korean society early on……I believe that is how it went…
I have a habit of avoiding periods of history before sizable collections of print material or the written word, because archeology seems too influenced by the eye of the beholder, but I do seem to remember that there was one school of thought on Korean pre-history that said Kaya was Japanese….
5:22 am on January 3rd, 2008 21
Honestly, I don’t know what’s the big deal about Koreans being killed in the Philippines. Koreans die everywhere.
If this guys deserved to be killed, well .. than that’s their problem. I think we should spend our time with the living ones ….
Regarding the ETs ….. I’m one of them.
Take me to your leader !!!! Hahaha !!!!
8:29 am on January 3rd, 2008 22
That’s odd of you to quote my entire other post here, Kingkitty…
8:30 am on January 3rd, 2008 23
To all,
I’m not justifying anything, I’m just reporting what I see and know from personal experience. I lived in Korea on and off for 12 years, have met overseas Koreans in Hawaii, Maryland, and elsewhere as well as here in the Philippines and was even married to a couple for a few years so I have a unique perspective on that. As for the Philippines, I have lived here for over 4 years now, am currently married to a Filipina, and have experienced what the Filipinos think about the Koreans and the hoard mentality they have sometimes. I think it’s a tragedy when anyone is killed anywhere for any reason.
To GIKorea,
Thanks for standing up for me and trying to get my story out.
Tim in Angeles sendzzzzzzzzzz
7:46 pm on January 3rd, 2008 24
Yes but Chickenhead That’s odd of you to quote my entire other post here.
10:16 pm on January 3rd, 2008 25
Since the topic here is about people dying in foreign countries here is something interesting for Americans: an American citizen (Dana Wayne Harbour, 79) was found death in his house in Brazil. The main suspects of this crime are an American couple (Frederick Louderback, 63 and Barbara Anner, 72) which by the way are also suspect of pedophilia. This couple has been arrested in Brazil, and the FBI is already involved in the case.
The Americans lived in a village of naturists and the FBI suspects that the couple murdered Harbour to steal his money.
The police found photos of naked kids in Louderback’s computer. The couple is also suspect of sending children to the USA.
I found this information in Brazilian news sites:
http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/cotidiano/ult95u355756.shtml
http://noticias.terra.com.br/brasil/interna/0,,OI2143285-EI5030,00.html
3:01 am on January 4th, 2008 26
Oooooooh-kay.
Is Kingkitty confused with ^V and ^C… is there an echo… or did I miss something.
I don’t get it.
4:49 am on January 4th, 2008 27
Oooooooh-kay.
Is Chickenhead confused with ^V and ^C… is there an echo… or did I miss something.
I don’t get it.
2:46 pm on January 4th, 2008 28
So what you’re saying Tim, is that Filipinos are targeting Koreans as murder targets because Filipinos don’t like Koreans. Isn’t that what you’re saying here? If you don’t like someone’s nationality, it’s acceptable to just bump em off, is that how it’s done over there? I guess so. Because that’s what’s you’re telling me, plus that Filipino security guard who shot a Korean tenant because the Korean dared to say something bad to the security guard for being drunk on the job. And of course, it’s the racist Korean tenant who’s the bad guy for insulting a Filipino in his own country.
3:14 pm on January 4th, 2008 29
Actually Tom, if you get right down to it, it’s the Koreans that don’t like the Filipinos and feel that they are a lower class of human being and often treat them as such. The only reason the Koreans are flocking here is for the climate and the cheaper business opportunities. That is not the bad part. The bad part is that Koreans treat Filipinos like slave labor when they work for them here and in Korea and often call them stupid right to their faces, in Korean of course so that they cannot tell what is being said. This is what is fueling the undercurrent of resentment that I talked about before.
I have no knowledge of this security guard incident that you quote and I’m not condoning any such behavior by Koreans or Filipinos. I’m simply pointing out the root causes for such occurrences. You, sir, wish to stir up controversy where none was intended. Your writings smell of the fringe element of society that has nothing better to do than to stir the sh*t storm to watch it roll.
11:16 pm on January 4th, 2008 30
Tim,
Is it to you that we must ask forgiveness for the way we have treated the Philippines? Come on …..
Something that always amazes in americans is their eagerness to point the finger to others for prejudice, hypocrisy, ignorance, violence etc despite of how much they do the same.
Don’t use this tragedy to insult the Koreans. People die everywhere, all the time.
Until the real reason for this crime is found, we should not do such racist assumptions.
5:59 pm on January 7th, 2008 31
Dr. Yu,
I am neither being racist or judgmental with my comments on this situation. I am simply stating the facts as I have experienced them from speaking with Koreans and Filipinos alike here in the Philippines about this situation. All of my knowledge is first hand.
You keep espousing the view that “People die everywhere, all the time.” This statement is true but it has nothing to do with the situation at hand except for the fact that Koreans are dead and Filipinos are responsible for it.
Since you are calling me a racist, you might want to know that I have a great love for the Korean people and their culture having lived there on and off between 1983 and 2000 with a grand total of 12 years in country. I have also lived in the Philippines now for almost 5 years and have experienced directly how Koreans come here and treat the Filipinos that they come into contact with. Is it right, of course not, is it happening, you bet it is and you can also bet that it is fueling a bit of the ill-will directed toward them. Am I, as an American without blame in this situation, maybe, maybe not. However, no matter where the blame lies the situation remains.
2:45 am on May 20th, 2008 32
We should all just get along, Philippines-Korea-United States. We’re all human beings, there will always be bad filipinos, koreans, and americans, as well as good filipinos, kroeans, and americans.
Each person will get either a positive a negative treatment, depending on how he treats himself. If you have low self-esteem and think other races are superior than you, then bad employers will smell this and treat you as inferior and abuse you. If you keep your chin up, be proud of your self, your race, don’t be submissive, and don’t take insults, then other races won’t abuse you in your own country or in any other country.
This is how it is anywhere (school, work, etc.)
7:39 am on May 20th, 2008 33
Hmmm…
So… was this ever solved?
1:14 pm on May 20th, 2008 34
I heard they were runiing a child prostituion ring and selling drugs. If that is true then they got what they deserved. For the most part Tim’s comments are right on target. Philipinos really hate the Koreans for all the reasons Tim has pointed out.
Meanwhile, other Koreans are getting some “social justice”
hxxtp://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view/20080519-137405/Last-will-key-to-solving-Koreans-slay
3:47 pm on May 20th, 2008 35
I see that this subject has generated some more interest. As it stands now, I have not heard word one more about this case. As I said in one of my postings on this subject, we probably won’t hear anything else in the news here in the Philippines about it because it’s not sensational enough anymore. You’d have to go and check through the police records to find out what eventually happened with this but that’s not something I can take on. So, I guess that this topic ends here????
Tim in Angeles sendzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
12:47 am on May 21st, 2008 36
Yes, not much more about this. Looks like its a closed case.
Tim, based on what you said, I really hope that the Korean community in the PI has learned a lesson from all this and starts to treat Philipino people with respect. Deep down, I really doubt those Koreans will change at all, but I suppose if enough of them get killed for their action, maybe they will change their evil ways.
3:30 am on July 6th, 2008 37
6:16 pm on July 20th, 2008 38