A South Korean national wanted for murder in Westminster spent eight years hiding in Southeast Asia. Last month, authorities in Laos picked him up on immigration charges. On June 9, he was on a plane back to Los Angeles.

Myung Jin Kim, 31, arrived at LAX and was booked into the Anaheim Police Department jail before being transferred to Santa Clara County, where he faces his first set of charges. Orange County is next in line.

Two murders, two counties

Kim's legal exposure spans nearly a decade of alleged violence.

In June 2016, San Jose police responded to a shooting in a residential neighborhood and found a man dead in his car. Investigators later determined the killing was a targeted hit orchestrated by Kim — but the hired gunman shot the wrong person. A warrant on murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy charges was not issued until 2020, after investigators pieced together that Kim had paid someone to kill a different target.

Then in September 2018, Kim was out on bail on drug and weapons charges when he got into an argument over money with a friend, 26-year-old Christopher Kim, in the parking lot of a Westminster CVS. He shot Christopher Kim six times in front of the victim's girlfriend and fled. A warrant for that murder was issued in November 2018.

By then, Kim was already gone.

Eight years on the run

Investigators tracked Kim to Laos in December 2025. Working with the Orange County and Santa Clara County district attorney's offices, they began the process of getting him back. Laotian authorities arrested Kim in late May 2026 for using fraudulent travel documents. There is no extradition treaty between the United States and Laos, so the immigration violation was the legal hook that made removal possible.

His return is the first time a fugitive has been brought back to the United States from Laos.

Westminster Police Chief Darin Lenyi said the department had never stopped working the case. "If you come to our city and commit murder or any other serious crime, we will track you down and arrest you," he said. "No matter how long it takes us or where you flee to, we are coming for you."

Patrick Grandy, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office, credited the international partnerships that made the return possible. "The FBI's Orange County Violent Crime Task Force is proud to assist police departments seeking violent subjects who've fled the jurisdiction," he said.

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said his office does not let geography slow down a prosecution. "Justice knows no borders and we will go to the literal ends of the earth in the pursuit of justice," Spitzer said. "There is not a country on earth that is capable of shielding you from our unwavering pursuit."

Part of a larger pattern

Kim is the seventh international fugitive the OC DA's office and the FBI have returned to face trial since January 2026. The others include a woman extradited from Mexico after allegedly murdering and decapitating her boyfriend, a man tracked to Vietnam after a drive-by shooting that killed a 15-year-old, and a suspect arrested in Guatemala on kidnapping and child sexual assault charges.

Kim is expected to be prosecuted in Santa Clara County first, then transferred back to Orange County to face the Westminster murder charge.

For more Westminster public safety coverage, see our earlier report on the Westminster kidnapping arrest from earlier this year.