US man extradited for 1997 murder of South Korean student in case that inspired a movie

An American charged with murdering a Seoul 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 he fatally stabbed Cho Choong-pil at a Burger King restaurant in Itaewon, an entertainment district near the US military headquarters in Seoul.

Initially his friend, US 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. It’s not clear where Lee is now. 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.

Patterson was set free in a special amnesty before finishing his prison term. Prosecutors, meanwhile, had launched a new investigation of Patterson and banned him from leaving the country until all court proceedings were finished. But he fled to the US while South Korean authorities were trying to renew a travel ban on him, according to South Korea’s Justice Ministry.