Korean goes wild at NAIA

A Korean fugitive wanted for murder in Seoul went berserk yesterday afternoon and attacked a police officer who was escorting him to a Korean-bound aircraft at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

Chief Inspector Winnie Quidato, a policeman detailed at the Bureau of Immigration (BI), suffered a cut on his head when Kim Chaul, 41, native of Seoul, Korea, struck him several times after Quidato had removed the deportee’s handcuffs as Chaul sat in a chair.

Chaul was eventually subdued by both Quidato and an unidentified immigration officer and taken directly to the PNP-ASG investigation office instead of being deported.

It was learned that Chaul was being deported back to Seoul, Korea, to face murder charges, said to have been committed four years ago.

According to immigration officials, the Korean had been using the name Kim Chaul to do business here in the Philippines but intelligence reports from Interpol and the Korean police say his actual name is Raymond Lee, prime suspect in a celebrated murder case in Korea.

The Korean had been in the Philippines for the past four years as an investor in a restaurant in Cebu. But immigration sources said that the Korean only had a tourist visa when he entered the country. This was another reason besides the murder case why Chaul was being deported.

Charges of physical injuries and assaulting a police officer are to be filed against Chaul but some investigators are saying that Chaul may have intentionally struck Quidato to avoid being deported to Korea to face the heavier charge of murder. – Rudy Santos