Park Wang-yeol, a notorious "drug lord" known to have distributed drugs to Korea while imprisoned in a Philippine penitentiary, was temporarily extradited to Korea on Wednesday.
The Transnational Crime Special Response Task Force said it received Park from the Philippines on Wednesday morning. The task force, a cross-government control tower established by order of President Lee Jae-myung, involves cooperation among 10 agencies including the National Intelligence Service (NIS), the prosecution and the police.
Temporary extradition is a system in which the requested country (the Philippines) suspends its own trial or sentencing procedures and temporarily transfers the suspect to the requesting country (South Korea) to allow criminal proceedings to proceed.
Park was a suspect in the 2016 "sugarcane field murder case" in which three Koreans were killed in the Philippines. After escaping prison twice, he was recaptured by Philippine authorities in 2020 and sentenced to 60 years in prison. Even while incarcerated, he was found to have supplied approximately 30 billion won ($22 million) worth of drugs to Korea. A person identified only as "A," known as a top drug ring leader in Korea, was also reportedly supplied drugs by Park.
Controversy also arose over Park's lavish lifestyle inside prison. President Lee mentioned Park during a meeting with Korean residents in Manila on June 4, saying, "There is a person who killed three Koreans and is imprisoned in a Philippine jail, yet sends drugs to Korea via Telegram." He added, "I hear he even invites his girlfriend to the prison to have a good time." The Ministry of Justice had previously requested Park's extradition in 2018, but the Philippine government put the request on hold.
President Lee personally requested Park's temporary extradition from Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during a Korea-Philippines summit on June 3. After close consultations between Korea's Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NIS, Supreme Prosecutors' Office and National Police Agency and Philippine authorities, Park was temporarily extradited just one month after the transfer request was made.
A government official explained, "The successful repatriation, which previous administrations failed to achieve, was made possible because relevant agencies including the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NIS, the prosecution and the police broke down barriers and joined forces under the president's strong will, centered on the Transnational Crime Special Response Task Force."
The government plans to immediately hand Park over to investigative authorities for a thorough investigation and strict prosecution on charges including smuggling, distributing and selling large quantities of drugs from the Philippines to Korea through accomplices. Authorities also plan to uncover the full scope of the drug distribution network in which Park was involved and thoroughly trace and recover criminal proceeds.
The process toward final extradition is also expected to proceed in stages. In a precedent case, the Korean government temporarily extradited Kim Sung-gon, the perpetrator of the "Anyang Money Exchange–Philippines Serial Kidnapping Case," from the Philippines in 2015 and received final extradition with Philippine authorities' consent in January of last year.