90-Year-Old Mother Sentenced to Prison for Aiding Son, Drug Kingpin Imprisoned in Cambodia

A 90-year-old mother who assisted in laundering funds for her son, a Korean national serving as a drug kingpin and currently incarcerated in a Cambodian prison, has been sentenced to prison.

According to Yonhap News Agency on April 13, Incheon District Court Criminal Division 15 (Presiding Judge Wi Eun-sook) sentenced Ms. A (90, female) to one year in prison and ordered the forfeiture of 380 million won in December last year for violating the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Prevention of Illegal Trafficking in Narcotics.

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Ms. A was brought to trial on charges of assisting with money laundering by receiving a total of 386.42 million won over nine occasions from unidentified individuals between April 2020 and February 2022 and then wiring the funds to an account designated by her son, Mr. B, who is in his 60s.

Mr. B was arrested in Cambodia in July 2020 on charges including possession of methamphetamine and has since been imprisoned in a Cambodian facility. From prison, he reportedly used a mobile phone to communicate with accomplices and smuggled narcotics into Korea on at least nine occasions between April 2019 and July 2022. Previously, Mr. B had been sentenced to one year and two months in prison for violating the Narcotics Control Act (psychotropics) and, after serving his sentence, departed for Cambodia in March 2019. He is known to have seven prior convictions for similar drug-related offenses.

The court stated, "The defendant accepted illegal proceeds despite being aware that the funds were related to drug offenses," adding, "Drug crimes have a serious detrimental impact on society as a whole, necessitating strict punishment." The court further noted, "Ms. A visited Cambodia five times in 2019 alone and was informed by phone of her son's detention after his local arrest. Therefore, it is difficult to accept her claim that she was unaware of her involvement in drug crimes." Regarding sentencing, the court explained, "The defendant's actions made it difficult to trace illegal proceeds and contributed to the spread of narcotics, which makes the crime grave. However, the court also considered that the defendant was of advanced age (89 at the time of sentencing), had no prior drug-related convictions, and participated in the crime under her son's instructions."

Mr. B's daughter, who was indicted on the same charges as Ms. A, was acquitted. The court acknowledged that Mr. B's daughter received and transferred the funds, but ruled that the evidence submitted by the prosecution was insufficient to prove she was aware that the money was proceeds from drug crimes. Authorities are reportedly pursuing Mr. B's extradition to Korea.

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