Six arrested over murder of Korean man in Guatemala

SEOUL, Feb. 12 (Yonhap) -- Six people, including two South Koreans, have been
arrested on suspicion of abducting and slaying a South Korean businessman in
Guatemala, South Korea's foreign ministry said Friday.
"The police authorities of Guatemala on Friday (Seoul time) announced that they
have arrested four Guatemalan and two South Korean citizens who are suspected of
involvement in the slaying of one of our citizens there," the ministry said in a
press release.
The South Korean victim, identified only by his surname Song, was found murdered
in the Central American nation on Feb. 3, about two weeks after he was kidnapped
by a group of people earlier believed to be members of an organized crime ring.
Song owned a sewing factory in Guatemala, making him a likely target for
ransom-seeking kidnappers.
The Seoul government had quickly issued a travel warning, noting there are over
80,000 estimated members of organized crime rings in Guatemala while there are
only some 30,000 members of the police and military combined.
One of the four Guatemalan citizens arrested in the case was an intelligence
officer of Guatemala's armed services, the ministry said.
The arrest of the six suspects was first notified by Guatemala's minister of
internal affairs to Baek Ju-hyun, director of the overseas Korean nations
protection and crisis management division at the foreign ministry, who was
dispatched to the Central American nation shortly after Song's body was found,
the press release said.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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