U.S. man charged with killing South Korean university student in 1997 extradited

SEOUL – An American charged with murdering a South Korean university student in 1997 has been extradited to South Korea to face a new trial in a case that has generated widespread interest and sparked a movie.

Arthur Patterson faces charges that he fatally stabbed Cho Choong-pil at a Burger King restaurant in Itaewon, an entertainment district near the U.S. military headquarters in Seoul.

Initially his friend, U.S. citizen Edward Lee, was sentenced to life in prison for the killing before an appeals court later reduced that to 20 years. Patterson initially got an 18-month jail term for destroying evidence and possessing a dangerous weapon.

But South Korea’s Supreme Court later ordered a new trial, and a lower-level court acquitted Lee, citing a lack of evidence. Lee’s whereabouts are presently unknown. Patterson and Lee, both teenagers at the time, accused each other of killing Cho, 22, who was found with multiple stab wounds in the restaurant’s bathroom and died on the way to a hospital.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/09/23/asia-pacific/crime-legal-asia-pacific/u-s-man-charged-with-killing-south-korean-university-student-in-1997-extradited/#.VgKzJn3E_Mo