British Police Searching for a White Male in Early 40s

British Police, investigating the murder case of Jin Hyo-Jung (22) who was studying French in Lyons, is concentrating their energy on searching for a Korean male named Mr. Kim (31), who is the owner of the lodging house in London, and a white male who was seen near the crime location on the estimated day of the incident. They are also investigating the connection between this case to another missing case of Song In-Hye, a student in England missing after staying in another lodging house owned by Mr. Kim in London.

British Police announced that they are searching for a white male in his early 40s who was sighted on October 2nd on the street of Askham Richard near Yorkshire where the decomposed body was discovered.

The Police stated that a resident noticed a car parked near the entrance of the town at around 4 a.m., and a white man standing in the street.

Meanwhile, Jimmy Kim, a Korean resident in England, who had reported Miss Song as missing and is tracking her whereabouts, asserted that other students at Mr. Kim`s lodging house noticed Mr. Kim going out in a navy Fuso at that time on October 30th and returning to his lodging house at about 1 p.m. on November 1st. Miss Jin is believed to have come to Britain on October 25th for a 3 day stay, and was found dead in a town near York on November 18th.

Jimmy Kim said that cash was drawn out from her card 7 times and the withdrawal was made at a bank 3 or 4 minutes from Mr. Kim`s lodging house by foot. He added that British cards have a daily withdrawal limit, but Korean credit cards permit cash withdrawal not by the daily limit but by credit limit, which only Koreans would be likely to know.

Meanwhile, the Korean Embassy in France reported on the 10th that the number of students enrolled in short-term language courses is estimated to be 2,000, and they are relatively vulnerable to the danger of visa con schemes, kidnapping or violence than students staying for long-term study.

It is harder to guarantee the security of the students for short-term language course because they usually come without a visa (France permits 3 month staying without visa) and do not register themselves as resident foreigners.

Jei-Gyoon Park phark@donga.com