[Essay Today] The Great Thieves of the Entertainment District

On February 21, 1946, the pro-Japanese collaborator Yoon Myeong-seon died in Hwanggeumjeong (Euljiro), Jung-gu, Seoul Special Free City. The perpetrators who killed him were Hong Seong-woo, Kim Pil-sun, Yoo Jeong-seok, and Kim Ji-yang. They were delinquents or gangsters known by nicknames such as Kkeoksoe, Ttebu, Cheongsu, and Ttangttalbo. They roamed the entertainment districts around Myeongchijeong (Myeongdong) in Jung-gu, reportedly threatening customers leaving restaurants or intoxicated individuals, or provoking fights to extort money and valuables.

Yoon Myeong-seon was an official of Manchukuo, a puppet state of Imperial Japan. He was born into a family that produced four individuals (Yoon Ung-ryeol, Yoon Chi-ho, Yoon Chi-o, Yoon Chi-so) among the 1,006 people identified by the Committee for the Investigation of Property of Pro-Japanese Anti-National Acts as having committed serious pro-Japanese anti-national acts. He is listed in the "Dictionary of Pro-Japanese Collaborators" along with Yoon Chi-seong and Yoon Chi-young. Including his in-laws such as Kim Gap-soon, Kim Yoon-jeong (in-laws of Yoon Chi-o, both former members of the Central Advisory Council), and Kim Seong-su (in-law of Yoon Chi-young), the scale of the pro-Japanese family is even larger. Yun Bo-seon, the president of the Second Republic, was also from this family.

Although Yoon Myeong-seon was a pro-Japanese collaborator, the perpetrators were not patriotic youths who set out to punish pro-Japanese collaborators. The place where Yoon Myeong-seon met his fate was near the Joseon Securities Exchange in Hwanggeumjeong. The Joseon Securities Exchange was a stock exchange. At that time, Hwanggeumjeong 2-jeongmok (Euljiro 2-ga) had many securities firms and was called the "Wall Street of Gyeongseong" ("The Novelist Kubo Walks Through Jung-gu"). In other words, it was a place with the "smell of money." With entertainment districts like Myeongchijeong nearby, it was an ideal place for gangsters to appear.

On that night, Hong Seong-woo, Kim Pil-sun, Yoo Jeong-seok, and Kim Ji-yang provoked a quarrel when Yoon Myeong-seon arrived near the Joseon Securities Exchange with his friend Ahn Ik-jo. They first beat Ahn Ik-jo, saying, "Those who drink are obstacles to the founding of the nation." When one of them snatched a watch and ran away, Ahn Ik-jo chased after him. The remaining members then severely beat Yoon Myeong-seon. He was taken to the hospital but died around 11 p.m. due to heavy bleeding and a concussion.

The perpetrators were arrested on the morning of the 23rd at brothels and bars near Myeongchijeong by the police. The February 24, 1946, issue of the Free Newspaper described the criminals as "threats in the city center, great bandits of the entertainment district." It also said, "They appear as respectable gentlemen by day but are terrifying gangs sweeping through Bonjeong (Chungmuro 1-3 ga) at night." The Free Newspaper reported the process of their capture in a follow-up article titled "The Unrelenting Social Pathogens... Look, They Appear Continuously."

According to the article, Hong Seong-woo's group went out to Myeongchijeong again on the night of the 22nd in search of prey. There, they witnessed a Korean policeman being beaten by American soldiers. The policeman was on his way to find the murderer of Yoon Myeong-seon. The "great bandits" were enraged. "They could not stand to see their compatriot beaten by American soldiers!" The newspaper noted that they were armed with a kind of weapon where iron strips were wrapped around their fists to deliver boxing-style punches that could knock out opponents.

There was a person running errands at Yoon Myeong-seon's funeral home. While going to buy candles and incense, he saw the quarrel between Hong Seong-woo's group and the American soldiers and reported it to the police. Plainclothes officers arrived to find that no fight had started yet and both sides were trying to calm each other down. The police could not suppress them. They followed the gangsters to confirm their whereabouts and arrested them the next day. The chief of Bonjeong Police Station, responsible for public safety in the area, vowed to eradicate crime "at the risk of his life." Yoon Myeong-seon was buried in Manguri, Yangju County, Gyeonggi Province (Manguri-dong, Jungnang-gu, Seoul). The aftermath of the group that killed him is not recorded. Reflecting now, it is unclear what to call them.

Heo Jin-seok, poet and professor at Korea National Sport University