Kim Rahn is the managing editor of The Korea Times. Since joining the company in 2003, she has covered various beats including the presidential office, Seoul city government, the Bank of Korea and the tourism industry. In 2014, she won the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) award for her coverage of the ordeals of migrant women in Korea.
’Itaewon murder’ suspect arrested in US
By Kim Rahn
A prime suspect of the so-called “Itaewon murder” case has been arrested and detained in the United States where he is facing extradition proceedings 14 years after the homicide in 1997, according to the prosecution and the Ministry of Justice.
Officials of the prosecution and the ministry confirmed Tuesday that the suspect, Arthur Patterson, was arrested in June and a local court in California is hearing arguments on whether to extradite him to Korea.
It is to be seen whether the court will extradite Patterson, a U.S. military serviceman’s son who was 18 years old at the time of the crime, and whether the case will be laid to rest.
“It takes a long time for a court to rule on extradition. We don’t know when the decision will be made nor what it will be,” a prosecutor said.
The murder dates back to April 1997 when a Korean collegian, Cho Jung-pil, was stabbed to death in a restroom at a fast food franchise in Itaewon, Seoul. Two teenagers at the scene — Patterson and Korean-American Edward Lee — were named as suspects.
Lee was indicted for murder and received a heavy jail sentence at lower courts, but the Supreme Court ordered him to be acquitted in September 1999. Patterson, indicted for possessing an illegal weapon, was imprisoned for about eight months and released on Aug. 15, 1998, on special parole.
Following Lee’s acquittal, Patterson was accused of the murder, but he fled to the United States in August 1999 after prosecutors made the mistake of not renewing a travel ban.
The statute of limitations for murder is 15 years, so only about six months are left. But the period could be increased by 10 more as the law extends the statute when a suspect flees the country to avoid trial.
“To apply the law, the prosecution will have to first prove that Patterson left Korea to escape being tries for murder,” a prosecutor said.
The victim’s mother Lee Bok-su, 69, told Yonhap News Agency: “It’s like I have been in hell the past 14 years. I want the suspect to be brought to a Korean court as early as possible.”
In 2009, the film “The Case of the Itaewon Homicide,” depicting the murder, was released and public demand grew for the case to be reinvestigated. The Ministry of Justice then asked the U.S. authorities to extradite Patterson.
In 2006, a court ordered the state to pay 34 million won in compensation to Cho’s bereaved family, saying the family was deprived of a chance to see justice done through its failure to renew the travel ban on the accused.