A convict held in another country was brought into Korea to testify against a defendant here, leading to a conviction, in a first for the country, court officials said Thursday.

The Seoul Northern District Court sentenced Kim and Park to five and four years in prison, respectively on Feb. 3 for a 2007 robbery and assault of a family in Japan, after their accomplice was transferred from Japan as a witness.

This was the first time Korea had a criminal incarcerated in another country transferred to testify in a case here through an international judicial assistance treaty.

Their accomplices, 52-year-old Moon and 53-year-old Park, are both serving seven-year sentences in Japan.

The full names of the convicts were withheld from the media.

Prosecutors here have spent the past six months with Japanese Ministry of Justice officials to have one of Kim’s accomplices in Japan temporarily transferred here to testify in the case.

One of the two accomplices was brought into the country on Feb. 2 and 47-year-old Kim and 48-year-old Park were sentenced the next day.

According to officials, the four men had pre-meditated the robbery and assault of an 85-year-old and her 51-year-old son, whose names were not disclosed to the media. The men had targeted the house because the area lacked surveillance and the exchange rate for the yen was high at the time, officials said.

While Japanese police were able to apprehend Moon and 53-year-old Park in Japan, they were unable to arrest Kim and 47-year-old Park before they fled to Korea.

Prosecutors here indicted the two in November 2011 but were unable to obtain a conviction after the two denied involvement in the case, and the judges had required a testimony from their accomplices who were in Japan.

“It was a complex and time-consuming process (to bring him back),” said one court official, whose name was undisclosed to the media.

“The latest case could become the cornerstone for international judiciary assistance.”

By Robert Lee (robert@heraldcorp.com)