Park Wang-yeol, 48, a "drug kingpin" who killed three Koreans in the Philippines, escaped twice, and was later imprisoned, had been serving time at the "Sablayan Prison" there and was repatriated to Korea on the 25th. The Philippine Department of Tourism has described this prison as a "famous tourist spot."
◇ Ministry of Justice: "He could continue drug crimes by cellphone even while incarcerated"
The government's "Transnational Organized Crime Special Response Task Force (TF)" on the morning of the day received Park on a temporary handover from Philippine authorities. Park is the main culprit in the "sugarcane field murder case," in which he lured three members of a group that carried out a pyramid-style scheme worth about 15 billion won in Korea to the Philippines and killed them. In 2022, a local court sentenced him to 60 years in prison, and he had been serving time.
The government repatriated Park, who had been serving a sentence effectively equivalent to life imprisonment, because it judged that he continued drug crimes even while incarcerated. The Ministry of Justice said, "Although Park is incarcerated in a Philippine prison, he could use a cellphone to contact the outside," adding, "If he is not repatriated, drug crimes targeting our people could continue."
Park was reported to have operated on Telegram under the name "Jeon Segye" ("the whole world"). Allegations were also raised that he lived a relatively free life inside the prison. President Lee Jae-myung also recently noted, "I even heard that he called in a girlfriend to the prison and lived together."
Lee Ji-yeon, director of the International Criminal Affairs Division at the Ministry of Justice, said at a briefing at Incheon International Airport in the morning that Park is suspected of committing drug crimes while serving time, and "The vulnerable oversight system of Philippine detention facilities is being pointed to as one of the causes that made the crimes possible." She added, "As we understand it, some detention facilities may allow illegal contact with the outside, such as inmates using cellphones."
◇ The prison's area is one-fourth the size of Seoul
The place where Park was imprisoned is the Sablayan Prison on Mindoro Island in the Philippines. Mindoro Island covers 10,571.8 square kilometers (about 3.2 billion pyeong). It is the seventh-largest island among the more than 7,000 islands in the Philippines. From Manila, the Philippine capital, it takes about 3 hours and 30 minutes by bus and ferry.
The official name of where Park was incarcerated is the "Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm." It was established in 1954 during the presidency of Ramon Magsaysay, and its area is 161.9 square kilometers (about 49 million pyeong), about one-fourth the size of Seoul. Unlike typical prisons, it was created with the aim of helping inmates adapt to society after release through agriculture and job training.
Model inmates or those nearing the end of their terms can stay in small houses here. Qualified inmates can live with their families here. They work on farms during the day and sleep at "home" at night.
A distinctive feature is that tourists are allowed to enter. The main purpose is not to see the detention facilities but to explore the vast farm and ecosystem.
The Philippine Department of Tourism said the facility is "famous as a tourist attraction," adding, "There are guided tour programs on the expansive prison grounds, including lake fishing and boat rides." It also introduces it by saying, "Inmates do farm work and fish, and they make small items and carvings sold in the area. They warmly welcome visitors."
The travel guidebook "Lonely Planet" introduces the facility on its website as "offering a special experience where you can meet inmates in person and get a glimpse of their daily lives." It continues, "You can join a variety of trekking programs guided by inmates in the dense forests surrounding the prison," and "At the prison guesthouse, you can even spend a night listening to inmates snore."