Alleged Killer Faces Trial
June 8, 2000
Korean American accused of slaying ex-girlfriend in twisted love triangle
By Heather Harlan
The trial of a young heir to a Korean leather-goods fortune accused of brutally murdering a Columbia University law student began in New York City with an accusation that the killing was part of a twisted lovers game.
Prosecutors alleged Edmund Ko slashed the throat of ex-girlfriend Lynda Hong in an effort to prove his love to a jealous new girlfriend.
In court, prosecutors played a video of the crime scene, taken March 20, 1998. The grisly tape showed Hong’s barefoot, bloody body lying face down on the floor of her apartment amidst textbooks and papers. After viewing the tape, Hong’s younger sister, Amy began sobbing loudly and was led out to the hall by friends.
During opening arguments in Manhattan Supreme Court, Assistant District Attorney Ann Prunty said that Ko killed Hong, his ex-girlfriend, in her Morningside Heights apartment March 18, 1998 and took her wallet to give to his new companion, Claudia Seong, as a trophy to show what he had done for her.
Ko’s defense lawyer, Jack Litman, however, insisted in his opening statement that it was Seong, not Ko, who was responsible for Hong’s death. Litman said Seong was obsessively jealous of Ko’s former girlfriends and suggested that she ordered a friend, Jae Young Shin to murder Hong. Shin’s whereabouts are unknown; however, he is believed to have fled to Korea. Neither Shin nor Seong have been charged with any crimes in this case.
Both the prosecution and the defense described Seong, who is eight years older than Ko, as controlling, manipulative and obsessively jealous. Prunty told the court that four months before Hong’s murder, Seong repeatedly slashed Diane Kim, another ex-girlfriend of Ko’s, across the face, legs and head, while Ko and Seong’s younger sister, Young Joo, held her down. Charges in that case are pending in New Jersey. Seong also allegedly ordered Ko to sever ties with all his former girlfriends and other friends.
Hong, a young law student, had seemed so full of promise. She was expected to graduate in May 1998, and to begin work at the prestigious law firm Cravath, Swain and Moore. She had known Ko since their days as undergraduates at Cornell University.
Ko, too, seemed destined to lead a successful life, friends said. After graduating Cornell in 1996, he joined Macy’s executive training program. Six months later he was promoted to associate buyer. Around that time, friends say, he met Seong, who lived in Edgewater, N.J., with her 4-year-old daughter from a previous relationship.
After meeting Seong, prosecutors said, Ko’s life changed dramatically. Prunty told the court that Ko quit his job, became distant from his family, and moved into Seong’s apartment. At the same time, however, Seong remained jealous of Hong, according to Prunty. Ko remained in contact with Hong, though they had broken up years earlier.
Litman said that the day before the murder, in response to an order by Shin to stay away from Ko, Hong referred to Seong as a prostitute. Seong became enraged when she heard this and decided to have Hong killed, the defense attorney told the jury.
“Claudia Seong was making all the rules,” said Litman. “She wanted Lynda Hong dead. When she learned that Hong had called her a prostitute she sought revenge.”
The murder shocked the Korean American community when Hong was found dead two days after she was killed, lying in a pool of blood with her throat slashed ear to ear. Ko was arrested the next day and charged with her murder.
Prosecutors said physical evidence proves that Ko was the assailant.
Prunty said Ko’s hair was found on bloody clothing left at the murder scene. Prunty added that a bloody footprint found at the murder scene, as well as a phone call made from a pay phone around the corner from Hong’s apartment, can be attributed to Ko.
“The crime scene alone will prove to you that Edmund Ko killed her,” Prunty said.
Hong’s best friend Se Ok was on the phone with Hong minutes before she is believed to have died, according to Prunty. Ok is expected to testify that just before she hung up, the doorbell in Hong’s apartment rang and Hong said, “It’s Ed, I have to go.”
Litman said Ko does not deny being at Hong’s apartment that night, but denies killing her.
“He didn’t kill her,” Litman told the jury. “He spoke to her. He left in about half-an-hour.”
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