Accused stashed $100k
A South Korean man who fled to New Zealand after allegedly murdering three family members arrived flush with $100,000.
Police emails about the case released to the Herald on Sunday reveal when Sungkwan Kim landed in Auckland on October 24 last year — three days after the killings — he declared $101,240 to border officials.
Police initially redacted the figure but North Shore crime investigation bureau’s Detective Sergeant Ash Matthews later confirmed the amount, given the wide publicity of the case and Kim’s confessions to South Korea officials.
South Korea media reported Kim confessed he killed his mother, halfbrother and stepfather because he was in financial difficulty. Their bodies were found with stab wounds in an apartment and a car boot.
He reportedly withdrew 120,000,000 South Korean won from his mother’s account, the equivalent of $153,000, telling police he was struggling financially after his mother remarried and their relationship soured when he repeatedly asked her for money.
Matthews said that since Kim’s extradition this month, roughly $35,000 of the $101,240 he brought into New Zealand had been seized by South Korea officials and the rest would be travelling back with Kim’s lawyer.
“I assume that will be seized on arrival. Obviously some has been spent and won’t be retrievable.”
Kim, a New Zealand resident, was arrested three days after his arrival and agreed to extradition after making appearances in the North Shore District Court for historical theft charges from previous time spent in Auckland.
The emails reveal police considered charging Kim with money laundering, but Matthews said it wasn’t in the public interest and would have delayed his return to South Korea to face more serious charges.
These included murder, abandonment of a corpse, and fraud.