Lee Jae-myung, who is on a state visit to the Philippines, said on the 4th that the government had formally requested the Philippine government for the provisional extradition of "Telegram drug kingpin Park Wang-yeol," the culprit in the "Philippine sugarcane field murder case" that inspired the drama Casino.
At a meeting with members of the Korean community held at a hotel in downtown Manila on this day, the president said, "I am very interested in crimes against overseas Koreans," and "yesterday I officially requested provisional (criminal) extradition from Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr."
He went on, "(This criminal) is said to be serving a 60-year sentence, but is reportedly still exporting drugs to Korea from inside prison (using a messenger)," adding, "We need to investigate and punish." He also said, "There are many scams (credit fraud) targeting Korean nationals, so we formed special teams in Southeast Asian countries such as Cambodia, Laos, and the Philippines and expanded cooperation in the police sector."
He again warned of "ruin." The president said, "Local media are widely spreading our declaration that 'if you touch a person from the Republic of Korea, you will be ruined,' and we are investing personnel and budget resources to what might seem an excessive degree in cracking down on crimes targeting Korean nationals," adding, "In statistics, losses from voice phishing and scam crimes have fallen 22%. Like real estate prices that soared and then turned, they are now dropping."
Earlier, at the end of last month, the president attached an article on X (formerly Twitter) that said "Even Chinese crime syndicates in Cambodia are afraid of crackdowns by Korean police and do not recruit Korean members" and wrote, "If you mess with Koreans, you will be ruined—does that sound like empty talk?" Khmer script was placed at the top and Hangul at the bottom.
Meanwhile, the president mentioned the "Ji Ik-ju murder case," in which Philippine police were involved in the crime, and said, "Philippine authorities said they would投入 more resources to catch the ringleader, and Korea plans to make every effort to arrest them even by投入 special resources."