The Roundup (film), the drama Big Bet's real-life motive, the so-called "drug king" Park Wang-yeol (48), who had been imprisoned in the Philippines, was suddenly repatriated to Korea after nine years.
Asiana Airlines flight OZ708 carrying Park Wang-yeol departed Clarkfield in the Philippines at dawn and landed at Incheon International Airport at about 6:34 a.m.
Wearing a navy baseball cap and a gray cardigan, Park Wang-yeol exited the departure hall without wearing a mask, and was notable for an expressionless face and a scruffy beard.
Park Wang-yeol was a key figure in the 2016 "sugarcane field murder" in the Philippines, and is the perpetrator of the real Philippine murder case that served as a motive for the film The Roundup and the drama Big Bet character Kim Kyung-young (played by Lee Seok).
He killed three Koreans who had fled to the Philippines after carrying out a Ponzi-like fraud of around 15 billion won in Korea, stole the 720 million won in casino investment funds he received from them after the crime, and shot them dead.
While attempting two prison escapes locally, Park Wang-yeol was sentenced to 60 years in prison, but controversy continued as he later led a luxurious prison life and was caught distributing large quantities of drugs to Korea; the prison where Park Wang-yeol was incarcerated allowed cellphone use and external contact, which made large-scale drug distribution possible even after his imprisonment.
The government, fearing that leaving this unaddressed would undermine judicial justice and lead to copycat crimes by other foreign prison inmates, pushed for his repatriation, and on the 3rd President Lee Jae-myung, during his state visit to the Philippines, requested temporary surrender in talks with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., which accelerated the repatriation process.
The 'transnational crime special response task force (TF)' composed of the Ministry of Justice and the Korean National Police Agency is expected to begin judicial procedures immediately upon receiving custody of Park Wang-yeol.
[Photo] SBS, official poster
[OSEN]