PHILIPPINES APOLOGIZES FOR KOREAN MURDERED BY POLICE|假掃毒真勒贖 菲不肖員警綁架外商

The Philippines government apologized to the South Korean government for the killing of a South Korean businessman, who was seized by local police on bogus illegal drugs charges and strangled to death in the national police headquarters. Human rights groups are suspicious that the police is using the country's crackdown on drugs as a disguise for other crimes such as kidnap-for-ransom. At the press conference on Jan. 23, the national police chief, who was asked to resign recently, said the focus of the murder investigation was to see whether the case was used to weaken Duterte's anti-drug campaign. ==Ronald Dela Rosa Philippine National Police Chief== When investigating the cause of death, we also have to look from the other side if someone attempts to use the case to weaken the determination of the president and the police chief. Jee Ick-joo, who worked in a human resources company in the Philippines for nearly 10 years, was seized at his home by four police officers in October under the pretense of a drug raid. After strangling him at the police headquarters, the officers pretended that the victim was still alive in order to collect a roughly NT$3.2 million ransom from his family. Besides Jee, three other Koreans were killed and their bodies were abandoned, with 11 Chinese being blackmailed by the police. Last week, three police officers were arrested and one retired officer escaped to Canada. The Office of the President said it will mete out justice to the murderers. However, a number of lawmakers, including Duterte's ally, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, called on Philippine National Police Chief Dela Rosa to step down. President Duterte said he will give the police full support and the anti-drug campaign will not stop. Police figures show over 7,000 people have been killed during Duterte's campaign and the figure may well be even higher. The high incidence of kidnapping in the pretense of drug raids indicates loopholes made possible by the crackdown on drugs for the corrupt police force to take advantage of. TRANSLATED BY：BRYANT CHANG 23號的記者會上，近日被點名下台的菲國警察總長表示，目前警方偵辦南韓商人撕票案的重點，就是深入調查，假辦案真綁票的手法，目的是否是要藉此傷害總統杜特蒂的掃毒政策。 ==菲律賓警察總長 羅薩== 在我們進一步調查死因的同時 我們要從另一個角度切入 就是瞭解是否有想藉此 削弱總統以及菲國警察總長的企圖 這似乎是嫌犯想達到的目的 南韓商人池益洲，在菲國人力資源公司任職將近10年，去年10月下旬遭到四名菲國不肖員警，以掃毒名義闖入家中，大肆搜刮家中財物，更將他強行擄走，之後陸續勒贖折合約320萬台幣的贖金，但事實上，池益洲被歹徒帶走當天，就已經慘遭勒斃，而且命案現場就在菲國的警察總部，行徑十分囂張。菲國媒體進一步指出，除了池姓南韓商人外，還有另外三名南韓人士慘遭棄屍，11名中國人士慘遭警方勒索，案情不斷擴大。 儘管菲國警方上週，逮捕三名現職菲國員警，另一名退休員警潛逃加拿大，菲國總統府強調，會給死者家屬一個公道，但多名菲國國會議員，包括杜特蒂的盟友，菲律賓國會議長阿瓦雷茲，紛紛點名要警察總長羅薩下台，而杜特蒂卻支持警方持續執行掃毒政策，不會罷手。菲國警方的數字，杜特蒂的鐵腕掃毒已有7000人喪命，但實際數字可能遠高於此，菲國不肖員警假掃毒真綁架的手法，不僅暴露出鐵腕掃毒政策的漏洞，更突顯菲國警方長期貪腐的惡習。 記者 靳元慶 報導