ANGELES CITY- Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan vowed here yesterday to dismantle a ”Korean mafia” which allegedly wants to control local Korean expatriates for various reasons, after a South Korean national was shot dead and another wounded last April 15 amid another unsolved killing of yet another Korean last March in cases linked by probers to the mafia.
Pamintuan also urged the police to investigate how Koreans could get commemorative plates, after noting that the Korean victims were using a van with plate marked “Prosecutor”, while their still unknown assailant fled in another van with a plate marked “PNPA” which stands for Philippine National Police Academy.
“I want that mafia dismantled. They could be killing each other,” said Pamintuan in a press briefing here.
Pamintuan, however, expressed gratitude to peace-loving Koreans in Angeles, thanking them for their confidence in investing in this city. He stressed that his plan to dismantle the Korean mafia would also benefit the local Korean community so that they could be spared from abuses of their compatriots.
Police report said that last April 15, Korean nationals Chong Yun Kim and his friend Chong Chul Nam were about to board their Toyota Hi-Ace Grandia van with a “Prosecutor” plate after eating at a Korean restaurant along Friendship Ave. here when they were fired at by a lone gunman. The suspect then casually walked away and boarded a white Toyota Innova with plate marked PNPA.
Kim, who partially owned Seven Welcome Tours, Inc., died on the spot, while his companion survived.
Police tagged a former driver of Kim as suspect, but the driver, whose identity was not immediately revealed, was reported to have vehemently denied participation in the shooting.
An official of the city hall, who asked not to be named amid the pending case, said that the driver was apparently a mere fall guy and that the masterminds of the shooting could be members of the Korean mafia. “It could be a case of conflict with the mafia,” the source said.
This city has remained host to foreign tourists and expatriates even after the Americans left their former US air force base at nearby Clark Field, now a government freeport. Koreans now comprise the biggest number of foreigners here, building a virtual Korean town along Friendship Ave.
Only last March 16, another Korean national, who owns a local business establishment, was found dead in Concepcion, Tarlac. The case has also remained unsolved.
