In Korea, the Supreme Court recently affirmed an appellate (civil) court decision which had found the government/police 30% responsible for the death of a female college student who was kidnapped (in Daegu) back in 2010. This means the government/police (i.e., a co-defendant) will have to pay the victim’s family (i.e., the plaintiff) about 96 mil won.

Reasoning: The police made a series of bumbling errors which contributed to the kidnapper murdering the victim.

1) The police prematurely froze the kidnapper’s bank account which alerted the kidnapper of police involvement (and angered him).

2) The police failed to nab the kidnapper from right under their nose/checkpoint. The kidnapper was able to escape the ensuing police chase. (The victim was still alive and inside the fleeing vehicle!)

3) Then, the kidnapper passed through several highway tollbooths w/o any problem.

4) A senior police officer was drunk/asleep while on stakeout at the victim’s home.

5) There was a similar/related incident right before this one which was not properly paid attention to.

The police caught the kidnapper in 48 hours, but by then it was too late.

Conclusion: As joint tortfeasors, the government/police were 30% responsible and the kidnapper/murderer 70%. (FYI, the trial court had found the government/police only 10% responsible. The appellate court and Supreme Court raised this to 30%.) YTN news report below.

Thanks for reading!