Japanese police fixed records concerning mysterious death of Korean-American

ATLANTA (Yonhap News) -- Japanese police fixed their records to rule the mysterious death of a Korean-American man in Tokyo last year a mere accident, the late man's family and friends here claimed Saturday.

In August last year, Kang Hoon, whose English name is Scott, died three days after he was found lying in an emergency stairwell, blood trickling from his left ear. Japanese authorities initially suspected a Filipino man in his 40s, who had beaten up Kang in an elevator leading to the stairwell, and a Japanese bartender as suspects. But the two were released on lack of physical evidence and police concluded the death was accidental.

But Kang Sung-won, the father, told Yonhap News Agency that he had secured a medical document stating his son's death was not an accident.

"The doctor in the emergency room wrote in his records that the injuries appeared to have been sustained through assault, not in an accident," Kang said.

Ray Wosniak, a family friend, said the Japanese police arrived at the scene after the late Kang was transferred to a local hospital and still had photographs of the bloody Kang lying in the stairwell.

Wosniak suspected a third person took pictures before the police arrived and handed them over to the authorities, and added there could be some secret dealings between the police and a local crime ring.

The senior Kang and Wosniak traveled to Japan last month to push the authorities to reopen the case. They said it is possible the police will reinvestigate the matter early next year. (Yonhap News)