South Korean prosecutors have brought charges against one of three individuals involved in the homicide of a fellow Korean discovered deceased in a barrel filled with concrete in a reservoir near Pattaya.
According to reports from Yonhap news agency, the Changwon District Prosecutors Office indicted a suspect in his twenties on accusations of murdering and deserting the body of a South Korean man while abroad.
The identities of both the accused and the victim have been withheld by South Korean prosecutors, although Thai authorities previously identified the suspect as Lee Roun and the victim as Roh Eui-jong, aged 34.
Lee Roun was apprehended in Jeongeup city, situated approximately 210 kilometers south of Seoul, after fleeing from Thailand. He, along with two alleged accomplices, stands accused of perpetrating Roh’s murder in Thailand. The victim’s remains were placed in a barrel filled with concrete before being disposed of in Map Prachan reservoir, located in Bang Lamung district, on the outskirts of Pattaya, in May.
Another suspect, Lee Young Jin, aged 27, was apprehended while in hiding in Phnom Penh and subsequently extradited back to Thailand. Yonhap reports that South Korean authorities are coordinating with Thai officials regarding his extradition to Seoul to face charges there.
The third alleged perpetrator, Kim Hyeonng Won, remains at large, with Thai authorities suspecting that he may have crossed the border into Myanmar.
A prosecutor quoted by the South Korean news agency stated, “In search of money and valuables, the suspects approached, murdered him [the victim] and abandoned his body in a foreign country beyond South Korea’s jurisdiction.”
