President Lee Jae-myung revealed on Monday (local time) that he officially requested the temporary extradition of Park Wang-yeol, a Korean "drug lord" imprisoned in the Philippines, to President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr.
President Lee made the remarks at a meeting with Korean residents in Manila, the final event of his state visit to the Philippines. "One of the problems you face seems to be public safety," he said.
President Lee first addressed scam crimes that have spread across Southeast Asia. "We formed a special team and devoted excessive manpower and budget to crimes targeting Korean nationals," he said. "We showed that anyone who targets Korean citizens will face ruin."
He added, "Just as Korean real estate prices have declined, scam crimes and voice phishing damages targeting Korean nationals have dropped by 22%."
President Lee then disclosed that he requested the temporary extradition of Park Wang-yeol, known as the "drug lord," noting that the Philippines appears to be where damages to local Korean residents continue to rise. "Park Wang-yeol allegedly killed three Koreans, and he is reportedly still exporting drugs to Korea from inside prison," he said. "I said we need to bring him to Korea for investigation."
President Lee also revealed he asked for swift apprehension of the perpetrators in the case of the late Ji Ik-ju, who was killed by Philippine police 10 years ago. When he said, "Philippine authorities agreed to try to capture the main perpetrator, and Korea is also considering deploying special capabilities to catch them with full force," applause and cheers erupted from the audience. Ji, a Korean businessman, was kidnapped and killed by three active-duty police officers at his home in 2016, sparking a diplomatic dispute between the two countries.
Earlier in the day, President Lee visited the Manila Heroes' Cemetery, the Philippines' national cemetery, to lay a wreath at the Korean War Veterans Memorial and met with surviving veterans.