Rights group calls out South Korean gov’t over donation of patrol cars to PNP

MANILA, Philippines — The move of the South Korean government to donate patrol vehicles to the Philippine National Police disregards the human rights abuses committed by cops, whose victims include one of its citizens, Human Rights Watch said.

Phelim Kine, HRW Asia Division deputy director, said that the South Korean government can help address crimes in the Philippines but “not by no-strings-attached equipment donations to the police.”

Last Monday, the South Korean government donated 49 Hyundai Elantra sedans and 81 Starex vans, worth $6.6 million (P347.2 million), to the PNP.

As he appealed to PNP to solve the killings of two its citizens in Caloocan City and Mandaue City, Cebu this year, South Korean ambassador Han Dong-man said that the donated vehicles are meant to help maintain peace and order in Metro Manila and intensify criminal investigation of the police force.

Han also described the donated vehicles as a form of gratitude for the heroism of more than 7,000 Filipino soldiers during the Korean war in 1950.

“As a Manila resident, Ambassador Han should know better,” Kine said, noting that the South Korean ambassador’s remarks neglect that his fellowman, Jee Ick-joo, was a victim of the ‘tokhang-for-ransom’ scheme of uniformed men and that prosecution of his alleged killers has stalled.

READ: Bato cites killing of Jee Ick-joo, drug war probes as lowest points in his stint as PNP chief

Jee was abducted from his home in Angeles City on Oct. 18, 2016. He was then brought to Camp Crame, the PNP national headquarters, where he was strangled to death by drug squad officers.

But the case of the Korean businessman was only exposed in January 2017.

“On behalf of Jee Ick Joo, South Korea should use its leverage as a major source of foreign aid and investment to the Philippines to publicly demand an end to the ‘drug war’ killings and support efforts by the United Nations and International Criminal Court to seek accountability for those deaths,” Kine said.

He added that assistance to the country should not benefit those responsible for the abuses but the victims of the brutal anti-drug campaign and their families.

President Rodrigo Duterte will visit South Korea to meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in on June 4 to discuss measures to reinforce alliance and further improve ties.

READ: Duterte to visit South Korea in June