Seoul requests extradition of U.S. murder suspect

By Kim Eun-jung
SEOUL, Jan. 5 (Yonhap) -- Seoul requested Tuesday the extradition of an American
murder suspect from the United States, reopening its investigation into a case
which has remained unsolved for more than a decade, officials said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it sent an official request on
Tuesday morning through the South Korean Embassy in the United States to the U.S.
government, seeking to extradite Arthur Patterson, one of the two main American
suspects in the case, ministry officials said.
The embassy is expected to convey the request to the U.S. government early next
week.
A U.S. district court which has jurisdiction over the district where Patterson
resides will decide on whether to extradite him to Korea or not.
The case goes back to April 1997 when a 23-year old Korean college student was
stabbed to death at a hamburger store in the multicultural Itaewon district in
Seoul. The killing was a big issue that year, as local investigators failed to
find the real killer, despite having two suspects in custody who blamed one
another with contradicting evidences and claims.
Edward Lee, a Korean-American, was charged with murder and Arthur Patterson, a
son of a contract employee with the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), with abetting the
crime. They reportedly were angry that Cho did not apologize after bumping into
them in a restroom.
Lee was sentenced to prison, but the high court overturned the ruling, citing
lack of evidence. Patterson fled to the United States in August 1999 as South
Korean authorities were about to investigate him again as a murder suspect.
Local prosecutors had relaunched the probe into the case December last year as
the victim's family officially accused Patterson of murder.
The United States and South Korea signed an extradition treaty in 1999.
ejkim@yna.co.kr
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