American jailed in South Korea for 1997 murder

Seoul, Jan 29: An American received a 20-year jail term, the longest prison sentence under the South Korean law, on Friday for murdering a South Korean student about two decades ago.

A court in Seoul sentenced Arthur Patterson, 37, to 20 years in prison for stabbing a South Korean college student to death in April 1997. The student was 22 years ld at that time, Xinhua reported.

Patterson was with another student, Edward Lee, when the South Korean college student was killed 19 years ago at a Burger King restaurant in the popular foreign district of Itaewon. Lee was acquitted in 1998 due to lack of evidence.

Patterson, who fled to the US in August 1999 while under investigation, was arrested in May 2011 and was extradited to South Korea in September 2015.

The ruling said Lee's confession of witnessing Patterson stabbing the victim was reliable.

IANS