Justice ministry vows to recoup criminal proceeds from notorious 'drug kingpin' extradited from Philippines

The justice ministry vowed Wednesday to recover criminal proceeds from a notorious Korean drug trafficker who was temporarily extradited from the Philippines, where he had been convicted for multiple murders. Park Wang-yeol, who has been serving a 60-year prison sentence in the Philippines for murdering three Koreans in 2016, arrived back home in handcuffs earlier in the day to face police investigation on drug trafficking charges. The 48-year-old, known as a "drug kingpin," is accused of smuggling drugs into Korea using Telegram while serving his prison sentence in the Philippines since 2022. "(We) plan to identify the drug trafficking organization the suspect was involved in, and thoroughly investigate and recoup criminal proceeds the suspect attained through drug transactions," a ministry official said in a briefing. Park's extradition comes about three weeks after President Lee Jae Myung requested Manila's cooperation during summit talks with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The ministry said Manila had initially denied its extradition request in 2017 but it ultimately secure

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