Old habits die hard

By Lee Kyung-min

A thief-turned-security expert-turned-missionary never got over his stealing habits.

The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office charged Cho Se-hyung, 75, once infamously known for his robbery of the rich and famous in the 1970-80s, for theft.

He was arrested in 1982 and was in jail for 15 years. With a kind of epiphany, he became a missionary, and met a woman and got married.

Valuable experience became an asset and served him well as he worked as a senior adviser at a security company. But his old habit didn’t die.

Travelling around Japan in 2001 on a mission, he got caught stealing again, and in 2005 he served time for breaking into a dentist’s house.

In 2011, he was arrested again for robbing a jewelry shop and injuring the shop owner.

He filed for a people’s participation trial, and got off clean.

Until recently, he was preaching to the homeless, according to a police report.

He broke into a house in the Seocho district in southern Seoul, on April 3, and stole valuables worth 29 million won ($26,000).