Justice ministry vows to recoup criminal proceeds from notorious 'drug kingpin' extradited from Philippines

▲ Justice ministry officials speak during a briefing on the extradition of a South Korean drug trafficker from the Philippines at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, on March 25, 2026. (Yonhap)

drug trafficker-extradition

Justice ministry vows to recoup criminal proceeds from notorious 'drug kingpin' extradited from Philippines

By Chae Yun-hwan

SEOUL, March 25 (Yonhap) -- The justice ministry vowed Wednesday to recover criminal proceeds from a notorious South Korean drug trafficker who was temporarily extradited from the Philippines, where he had been convicted for multiple murders.

Park Wang-yeol, who has been serving a 60-year prison sentence in the Philippines for murdering three South Koreans in 2016, arrived back home in handcuffs earlier in the day to face police investigation on drug trafficking charges.

The 48-year-old, known as a "drug kingpin," is accused of smuggling drugs into South Korea using Telegram while serving his prison sentence in the Philippines since 2022.

"(We) plan to identify the drug trafficking organization the suspect was involved in, and thoroughly investigate and recoup criminal proceeds the suspect attained through drug transactions," a ministry official said in a briefing.

Park's extradition comes about three weeks after President Lee Jae Myung requested Manila's cooperation during summit talks with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

The ministry said Manila had initially denied its extradition request in 2017 but it ultimately secured his temporary repatriation after multiple rounds of working-level talks.

(END)

(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved