By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
A Korean-American murder suspect, who once worked here as a native English teacher and was apprehended last month, will be extradited to his homeland for trial, a court here said Tuesday.
The Seoul High Court said it has agreed to hand over the suspect, Ronald Rhee, to the U.S. Department of State. The U.S. government sought his extradition via the South Korean prosecution in February.
Rhee had been a member of a gang in Los Angeles. The 24-year-old, who earned American citizenship at the age of nine, stabbed a Korean-American there on July 14, 2006, and fled to Korea, according to the prosecution.
He worked as a teacher at a private language institute for two months last year with a fabricated diploma, the prosecution added.
"He meets all the requirements to be subject to extradition," said Judge Seo Ki-seok in a statement. "Plus, it's unlikely that he would face any discriminatory treatments in an American court because of his state of origin, religion or skin color."
The court dismissed the suspect's request to have his case handled by a South Korean court.
"Most people and the evidence in connection with the crime are in the U.S. In addition, given his long residential experience in the U.S., sending him to the U.S. does not challenge humanitarian values," the judge explained.
Rhee was arrested along with a group of "unqualified" native English teachers, who were suspected of using drugs habitually.
Of them, he is the only person subject to extradition. The other foreigners accused will be handled by a Korean court and then, in accordance with rulings, be either jailed or deported.
In the meantime, the Ministry of Justice of Korea has been seeking to have Arthur Patterson, a prime suspect in a murder case in Itaewon, Seoul 12 years ago, extradited. Patterson now lives in the U.S. The request was made in January, but its U.S. counterpart has not yet decided whether to approve his extradition.
