International Fugitive Who Killed Man In OC Captured In Laos: Authorities

An international manhunt for a South Korean national wanted for orchestrating a botched murder-for-hire in San Jose and executing another man in Orange County ended with the fugitive captured in Laos and returned to the U.S. to face murder charges, authorities said.

Myung Jin Kim, 31, was taken into custody by Laotian authorities in late May for immigration violations and flown June 9 to Los Angeles International Airport, according to authorities, who added he was detained in Laos for using fraudulent travel documents.

The recent developments regarding Kim’s cases were announced in a joint news release issued Friday by the FBI, the district attorneys of Orange and Santa Clara counties, and the Westminster and San Jose police departments.

“Mr. Kim’s cowardly acts of violence finally caught up with him, despite being halfway across the globe,” Patrick Grandy, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said in the news release.

Kim is accused of orchestrating the ambush killing of a man on June 27, 2016, in San Jose, in which the hired hitman ended up killing the wrong person, according to authorities. Officers responded around 9:20 p.m. to a report of a person shot in a residential neighborhood and found a man dead, authorities said, adding the victim was in a vehicle when the suspects, who had been lying in wait, ambushed him after he stopped.

An arrest warrant was issued for Kim on Feb. 3, 2020, for murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder, according to authorities.

Kim is also accused of shooting and killing his friend, 26-year-old Christopher Kim, on Sept. 5, 2018, after arguing with him over money in the parking lot of a Westminster CVS, authorities said. Myung Jin Kim shot Christopher Kim six times in front of the victim’s girlfriend and ran away, according to authorities, who noted Myung Jin Kim was out on bail at the time after being charged by Orange County prosecutors with dealing drugs and weapons-related offenses.

An arrest warrant was issued Nov. 20, 2018, for Myung Jin Kim for the murder of Christopher Kim, authorities said.

In December 2025, investigators learned that Myung Jin Kim was in Laos and, in cooperation with the Orange and Santa Clara county district attorney’s offices, began working to return him to the U.S. for prosecution, according to authorities.