Chinese nationals steal cremation urns from temple, demand ransom

Chinese nationals visiting Jeju stole cremation urns from a temple’s columbarium and demanded money for their return. Police have recovered all the stolen urns and are pursuing the suspects, who have fled overseas. According to the Jeju Dongbu Police Station, on the 26th, two Chinese men in their 40s broke into a temple columbarium in Jeju City at around 1:10 a.m. on Monday and stole six cremation urns. They buried three urns each on a wooded hillside about 1.5 kilometers from the temple before fleeing abroad.

The next day, the suspects contacted the temple, saying, "We have the remains you were keeping. Pay us, and we’ll return them," and demanded 2 million U.S. dollars. Upon receiving the report, police mobilized around 40 officers over two days to search for the urns, ultimately recovering them and returning them to the bereaved families.

Investigations revealed that the suspects entered South Korea visa-free last Tuesday and visited the temple’s columbarium three times before committing the crime. On the day of the incident, they broke into the temple columbarium by smashing the back door with a metal rod. A police official stated, "We are tracking the two Chinese suspects, who are wanted for special theft, desecration of human remains, and threat. We have also requested an Interpol red notice." Recently, violent crimes involving Chinese nationals have been on the rise in Jeju. On Monday, four Chinese individuals murdered a Chinese man in his 30s at a luxury hotel.


송은범 seb1119@donga.com