Seoul: President Lee Jae Myung on Wednesday expressed appreciation to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for his cooperation in repatriating a notorious South Korean criminal convicted in Manila over alleged cross-border drug trafficking and murder.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Lee shared his sentiments in a post on social media platform X, where he vowed to "track down anyone who harms the South Korean people to the end of the Earth." Lee emphasized the importance of international cooperation by stating, "On behalf of the Korean people, I extend my deepest gratitude to President Marcos for his cooperation in promoting friendship and justice between our two nations."

The criminal in question, Park Wang-yeol, has been serving a 60-year prison sentence in the Philippines since 2022 for the murder of three South Koreans in 2016. Park, aged 48, is also suspected of smuggling drugs into South Korea through accomplices via social media platforms and is infamously known as a "drug kingpin" operating under the Telegram alias "Worldwide."

The repatriation of Park was finalized Wednesday, about three weeks after Lee requested cooperation from Manila during summit talks with Marcos. This marks the culmination of over nine years of persistent efforts by Seoul to secure Park's return to South Korea.

Park was extradited under the treaty between South Korea and the Philippines, which facilitates temporary repatriation for criminal proceedings by suspending trial or the execution of a sentence in the Philippines.