MANILA — The wife of the abducted and murdered South Korean businessman, Jee Ick-joo, arrived at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) headquarters in Manila, before 5 p.m. on Wednesday , after government investigators confirmed the dumping of his remains in a funeral parlor and the illegal cremation of his body in another.
Choi Kyung-jin was accompanied by a man, said to be her translator, and another Korean woman.
She spoke with Director Roel Bolivar, commander of the Task Force on Illegal Drugs, which has been overseeing the investigation of Jee Ick-joo’s kidnapping and murder, for over an hour in his office.
After their meeting, Choi had to be assisted as she stepped out of the office and walked to her vehicle. She had declined interviews by the press.
After she left, a visibly distraught Bolivar then faced reporters and talked about how he informed Choi of her husband’s death.
“We had the opportunity to personally inform her of her husband’s death and cremation,” he said. “She was thankful for the Bureau’s swift work.”
Bolivar told of the difficulty to inform Choi of her husband’s death. “She told me of their plans: to stay in the Philippines, put up a business and even establish a foundation for poor Filipino children,” he said.
“They wanted to grow old here, permanently stay here in the Philippines,” he added.
Teary-eyed, Bolivar said he was hurt when Choi asked him what her husband, a former director of a South Korean heavy industries firm in the country, did to deserve his untimely demise.
“I have no answers for her,” he admitted.
The director said the NBI committed to continue the investigation and eventually press charges against the perpetrators, after the gathering of sufficient evidence.
