A man in his 50s from China who fled to South Korea after murdering a taxi driver in his home country has been caught and forcibly repatriated to China after 29 years.

The Narcotics and International Crime Investigation Unit of the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency announced that it had apprehended a Chinese national, surnamed A, for violating the Immigration Control Act and forcibly repatriated him to China on June 24.

A is accused of committing robbery along with two accomplices against a taxi driver in Tianjin, China, on March 10, 1997, and murdering the driver when he resisted.

Investigators found that A entered South Korea in 2017 with a crew member visa (E-10) following the crime, working on fishing boats in Seocheon-gun, South Chungcheong Province, and traveling back and forth to China every year.

However, when Chinese investigative authorities reinvestigated the taxi driver death case in September 2021 and arrested two accomplices through DNA analysis, A stopped visiting China altogether.

Despite his visa expiring in March 2022, A did not return to China. Instead, he relocated to Mokpo, South Jeonnam Province, where he worked as a day laborer and continued his life on the run.

Learning that A had fled to South Korea, Chinese investigative authorities issued a Red Notice in May of last year and requested international cooperative investigation.

In response, the police conducted inquiries around Seocheon-gun, South Chungcheong Province, where A had previously lived, and analyzed CCTV footage to pinpoint A's residence in Mokpo. After staking out the location, the police apprehended A on July 2.

It was reported that A showed meticulous caution to evade police tracking, avoiding the use of mobile phones or bank accounts under his own name and routinely wearing a mask in public.

Upon hearing the news of A's arrest, an official from China's Ministry of Public Security extended gratitude, stating, "The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency arrested the robbery-homicide suspect through persistent tracking."

The Chinese Embassy in South Korea also invited the police officers who arrested A to the embassy on June 23 to express gratitude, conveying intentions to "further solidify cooperation between the law enforcement agencies of both countries and actively cooperate in international joint operations."

Reported by Kim Minjeong | Video by Lee Yu-jin | Design by Lee Su-min | Produced by SBS Digital News