Korean tourist shot to death by gunmen in Philippines

A Korean tourist was shot to death by an unidentified gunman in northern Philippine on Tuesday. It is the first time that a Korean tourist, not an ethnic Korean living in the country, has been shot to death.

The Korean Embassy in the Philippines said on Wednesday that a Korean tourist, identified by his last name Heo (65), died after being shot by two unidentified attackers riding a motor bike in Lungsod ng Angeles, a tourist town some 80 kilometer northwest of the capital Manila, at around 7:45 p.m. on the day. Accompanied by three acquaintances taking tour to the island country, Huh was on his way back to hotel, which was located at some distance from the downtown, when he died on the scene after being hit five shots with a 9 mm shotgun by the unidentified attackers. Other Koreans in his company, including a 37-year-old Korean, hurriedly escaped from the scene of the attack to safety. The attackers were not arrested, and the cause of attacks remains unknown.

Heo, who reportedly has no occupation, arrived in the Philippines with his junior classmen last Friday. After taking a four-day tour to the Lungsod ng Angeles region, he was scheduled to return to Korea on Tuesday night.

The Korean foreign affairs ministry urged the Philippine police to thoroughly investigate the case and arrest the attackers, while consulting process to repatriate to Korea the remains of the victim with bereaved families. The ethnic Korean organization in the Philippines fears possibility over additional criminal attacks on Koreans.

In January, two unidentified gunmen caused gunshot wound to a Korean, who was leaving a bank after withdrawing cash, and ripped the victim of 20,000 U.S. dollars before fleeing. In April last year, one Korean was killed and another Korean was wounded as they were under gun attack by unidentified gunmen.

Last year, a total of 13 Koreans were killed in the Philippines. All of them were Korean businessmen running business in the country. The number of Koreans visiting the Pacific island nation has been on steady rise since hitting the 1 million mark in 2012. Authorities judge that the inflow of people involved in crimes has also been on the rise in number in tandem. More than 1.16 million Koreans visited the Philippines last year despite occurrence of various natural disasters including the mega typhoon Haiyan and a massive earthquake.