Secret Passages and Hidden Rooms Installed... The Many Faces of 'Illegal Operation' in Entertainment Bars

[Photo by Seoul Suseo Police Station]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] Night entertainment establishments operating in violation of COVID-19 quarantine rules were consecutively caught by the police. Despite creating secret passages and closed rooms for illegal operations, they could not evade the crackdown.

On the 31st, according to the police, the Suseo Police Station in Seoul arrested a business owner, 57 employees, and 63 customers?a total of 121 people?on charges of violating the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act for illegally operating by creating secret passages between lodging facilities and night entertainment establishments.

The night entertainment establishment, known in the industry as the "Babylon Fortress," is the largest full salon in the country. It could only be accessed through an underground secret passage in the adjacent building and was also connected underground to another neighboring building equipped with lodging facilities. It spanned a total of five floors and reportedly included facilities such as mirror rooms where customers could choose hostesses, as well as iron doors disguised as bookshelves.

The police are investigating on the grounds that prostitution took place at the lodging facilities connected through the underground of this building.

On the 6th of this month, in Suseong District, Daegu, one night entertainment establishment was caught violating administrative orders restricting operating hours. The establishment was reportedly employing illegal Thai women and, during the crackdown, was secretly operating by turning off the signboard lights and allowing customers with verified identities to enter and exit through the back door.

The Thai women were found hiding in a closed room inside the establishment and were handed over to the immigration office after the police forcibly opened the entrance door.

In August of this year, a total of 43 people?including the business owner, 5 employees, 17 hostesses, and 20 customers?were caught by the police at a night entertainment establishment in Gangnam District, Seoul, which had created closed rooms and operated illegally without a signboard in preparation for crackdowns.

When the crackdown team opened the ground floor entrance and the basement first-floor entrance and entered, customers and hostesses hid while only the owner and employees sat and denied the operation. However, the crackdown team discovered a secret entrance installed on one side of a room inside the establishment, where they found 20 customers and 17 hostesses.