The Philippines government on Tuesday apologised to the South Korean government and people for the killing of a South Korean businessman seized by police officers on bogus illegal drugs charges.
Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella also expressed condolences to the wife of the man who was strangled allegedly by police officers on the same day he was taken from his house north of Manila in October.
"We apologise to the South Korean government and people for this irreparable loss," Abella said. "We commit the full force of the law to ensure that justice is served and not delayed."
"To the Korean people, please accept our sincerest and deepest regrets," he added.
The suspects in the case, all members of a police anti-narcotics task force, allegedly seized the victim in October on a fake arrest warrant and extorted 5mn pesos ($100,000) in ransom from his wife.
The victim was strangled to death inside a vehicle in the national police headquarters in Manila on the day he was seized, according to one of the officers arrested in the case. The man's body was then cremated in a funeral parlour, whose owners and employees are also
being investigated.
Legislators and human rights groups warned that the South Korean's killing highlights abuses under the government's aggressive anti-drug campaign.
Since Rodrigo Duterte came to power in late June, 2,256 suspects had died in police operations against drug users and pushers by mid-January, according to police statistics.
Police are also investigating nearly 3,000 additional deaths in the first six months of Duterte's presidency, including possible vigilante killings in connection with the drug war.
More than 2,000 suspects have died in police operations in the Philippines since Rodrigo Duterte came to power last June.
