Korean trader slain in Malate

A South Korean businessman was shot dead by an unidentified gunman in Malate, Manila, last Friday night, just hours after arriving in the country.

Homicide investigators of the Western Police District identified the victim as Jang Sung Lee, 39, temporarily billeted at the Pan Pacific Hotel along Adriatico Street in Malate.

According to the police, Jang arrived in Manila last Friday at 1 p.m. and proceeded to the Pan Pacific Hotel where he was met by his Filipina wife Pearl de Guzman.

The couple then stepped out for dinner at the nearby Diamond Hotel Tea House. The couple decided to return to the hotel at about 10:40 p.m.

Police said that as the couple was walking along Dr. Quintos street on their way back to the hotel, two men aboard a motorcycle suddenly appeared.

One of the unidentified men alighted from the motorcycle and approached the victim. To the couple’s surprise, the suspect drew a pistol and fired away at Jang at close range, hitting him in various parts of the body.

After seeing the victim drop to the pavement, the unidentified gunman boarded the motorcycle and escaped with his unidentified cohort towards Mabini street.

The victim was taken to the Manila Doctors Hospital on United Nations Avenue but was declared dead on arrival.

Though motive for the shooting has yet to be established, police are eyeing the possibility that the victim could have been killed for insurance benefits.

Jang is the third South Korean national killed in Metro Manila in a period of three weeks. Chung Young Ho, third secretary of the South Korean Embassy was found dead in Marikina last June 3 while Chol Ho Lee, a construction executive, was shot dead by a fellow Korean in San Juan last June 17. – Mike Frialde