MANILA, Philippines — The Korean Chamber of Commerce Philippines has called on the government to "comprehensively conduct [a] proper investigation" into the kidnapping and death of Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo and to protect South Koreans in the Philippines.
In a statement, the chamber said it was shocked and saddened to learn that Jee was the "victim of a heinous crime committed by a group of high-ranking police officers ... supposed to protect the safety and welfare of each individual here in the Philippines."
Jee was abducted from his home in Angeles, Pampanga in October 2016 and, according to Philippine National Police Director General Ronald Dela Rosa, killed by a rogue police officer inside the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame in Quezon City the same day.
The PNP and the Department of Justice are running parallel probes on the incident and the Senate has set a hearing on Thursday to look into the matter.
Since Jee's death hit the headlines, the Pampanga provincial police has said three other Koreans had been victims of police officers who faked a raid to rob and extort money from them.
In 2016, South Korea sent a delegation to the Philippines to check on security conditions in the country over reports that seven Koreans had been killed in the country as of last November.
"In South Korea, we strongly protect the welfare and respect almost 50,000 Overseas Filipino Workers," the chamber said.
"We expect and hope that the Philippine authorities double efforts to prevent this kind of incident [from happening] again and assure the safety and welfare of Koreans here in the Philippines."
The chamber said there are around 120,000 Koreans in the Philippines.
The Department of Tourism said in 2016 that "visitors from Korea are still the top spending market with an aggregate spent of P5.65 billion for the month of November." Korea is also the top market for Philippine tourism with 127,547 arrivals as of last November, it also said. — Jonathan de Santos