Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Real Reality]

70 officers muff ambush at ransoming in Daejeon
After collecting a ransom of 200 million won ($200,000) for the wife of a Daejeon construction company president, two wily kidnappers managed yesterday to elude 70 police officers who had set up an ambush.
When the woman's 27-year-old son drove his mother's red Mercedes sports car to deliver the money, the kidnappers jumped into the car and escaped. The police who had followed the son to the meeting place unaccountably lost track of the Mercedes. The hostage and her son were freed unharmed.
... kidnappers called three hours later to tell the son to go immediately to a different location, a gas station in front of Chungnam National University, 10 kilometers away from the station. As the son drove his mother's Mercedes with the 200 million won ransom to the new meeting point, six police cars followed. Then one of the kidnappers called again to set up a third meeting spot, this time inside an apartment complex about a kilometer from the university.
Police said upon the son's arrival, one of the abductors jumped into the car, which promptly disappeared into the dark hilly countryside nearby. Although nearly 70 police officers had set up an ambush, they lost track of the Mercedes.
by Kim Bang-hyeon, JoongAng Daily (May 25, 2005)
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200505/24/200505242229053979900090409041.html

[tzechuk]

How pathetic!

[winnie]

What's worse is that it was not only RED, but a MERCEDES......kinda stands out here, where the majority of cars are all Korean and either white or black mostly.

Hahaha, what a joke!

[mateomiguel]

so now they got the cash, AND a mercedes! And they can ransom the son for double!

I have GOT to meet these guys.

[JongnoGuru]

I can't believe it!! My mom sure doesn't own a red Mercedes sports car... Does yours?


Oh yeah, so the kidnappers eluded the cops. Umm, I think why this might be a bigger shock to the more recently arrived expats than it is to others, Koreans themselves, primarily... How to put this diplomatically?... The people of Chungchong-do aren't exactly famous throughout the land for their quickness of wit or action. And Daejeon... Dim-Bulb Hub of Northeast Asia? (*EDIT* -- Not the Guru's views. Just a local stereotype that many Koreans will first buy into at a tender age and then have it fed and nurtured as they grow up.)

Up here in God's own country, we have roving police patrols on the hour (in squad car and on foot) to protect us from kidnappers, ransomers, and hippy chicks.

[fidel]

[Real Reality]

[JongnoGuru]

[JongnoGuru]

[tzechuk]

Daedeok Valley, or Daejeon, will never be a self-sufficient techno town.

My husband has a company here that makes products that require many different parts and can he ever find these things in Daejeon? The answer is: NO! OR else he can find them but these things will cost 50% more than if you were to buy them from Seoul, which drives up the production cost.

Furthermore, suppliers in Daejoen are much slower and their technology not as advanced as that in Seoul. Machine shops don't have the right equipment to do the right thing and often they have to do things manually, which, again, makes the final costs a lot higher than it should be if we had taken it to, say, Incheon. But it's difficult to find the right supplier and my husband is always very frustrated.. that is why as soon as we have enough fund, he is moving the company to Seoul.

Another frustrating thing is funding. They make an area for venture companies and small and medium businesses but they don't provide any funding. Of all the companies that are currently in KAIST in their Hi-Tech Venture Centre, 10 out of the 60 or so couldn't pay rent last year but they couldn't borrow any money easily either because they probably have bad credit, so they are not allowed to borrow anything. It is a real vicious circle. Credit agencies don't think that it's because they have no money to begin with that they are in bad credit and that they need to borrow to get out of this sucky situation... and the government is constantly worried about companies going bankrupt and not paying their debts, but they are stupid enough not to realise that there is absolutely no way for a company to get any money if they are in difficulties.

If they want Daejeon to be the hub of whatever.. they better rethink their strategy... or it will sink faster than a minnow can swim a dipper.

[mindmetoo]

Remember that prostitute serial killer? He was only caught because the outcall service did its own detective work. They told the cops they thought they knew who it was but they didn't do anything. They basically had to go to the hotel where he was going to meet his victim and affect the arrest themselves. The cops later tried to take credit but when it was revealed they basically had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the scene to make the arrest they were like "well, the point is we DID finally manage to arrest him."

Then there was the wonderful case of the two girls who were raped and the cops told them they were terrible to report it because of the shame it would bring on their town...

My own neighborhood seems to be patrolled in this fashion: 5 cops all walk together. The stand for a while in a money machine kiosk getting warm. They then patrol their way to the next money machine kiosk and get warm again. And so on. It never occurs to them to, like, spread out. Cover more ground.

The safest place to be in Korea is a ATM kiosk during a winter day.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

And would it be a surprise to anyone if there were a few police sergeants who are a bit richer by now?

[stumptown]

The most curturally relevant statement here now. Given all of our past "misunderstanding" with the government which were settled with a "compensation" fee. Seems likely that this was the case.

[Swiss James]

There was a huge protest right outside the window of my apartment building on Monday night- went on from 8pm till at least 1am (when I finally fell asleep). Blaring music, people shouting through megaphones etc. It woke me up again at 6:30am, whether it ever stopped I don't know.

I asked the people on reception and they said it was an illegal protest but the cops weren't doing anything about it.

This, by the way, is the view from my apartment window.




I wouldn't trust the rozzers around here to catch my kidnappers / a cold

[Gollum]

That's a lot of money.

Wonder how much the guy would have to pay a few cops to "escape."