'Including Gangsters' 95 Members of Sillim-dong Prostitution Ring Arrested... Instead of a Raid, There Was 'This'

150 Locations Raided to Uncover Financial Flows and Contact Networks

The background behind the 'complete crackdown' on 95 organized crime members involved in mediating prostitution in the Sillim-dong area of Gwanak-gu, Seoul this week was a new investigative technique by the police. Unlike the traditional prostitution investigations that involved raiding entertainment establishments, this time the police investigated the flow of funds and communication networks as if investigating financial crimes, resulting in the mass arrest of dozens of entertainment establishments and brothels mediating prostitution, as well as their owners, employees, and prostitutes. As prostitution methods are becoming increasingly covert, this approach is expected to be effectively utilized in future related investigations.

Inside a nightlife establishment in Seoul, caught by the police on charges of mediating prostitution. [Photo by Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency]

On the 17th, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced that they had sent 95 people, including entertainment bar owners, to the prosecution on charges including violations of the Act on the Punishment of Acts of Arranging Sexual Traffic. They are suspected of mediating prostitution in the Sillim-dong area for over 10 years. This group included 19 owners of 16 entertainment bars (including co-owners), 35 employees, 29 owners of 20 brothels (including co-owners), and 12 prostitutes. The police obtained a pre-indictment seizure order from the court for 1.56 billion KRW in deposit claims earned through prostitution mediation, and notified the National Tax Service of tax data worth approximately 15.3 billion KRW, accelerating the recovery of criminal proceeds.

The police launched the investigation into prostitution mediation businesses in the Sillim-dong area based on existing investigation records and data, without any specific tips or reports. Although the area had been subject to crackdowns before, there were clear limitations to individual investigations. Even when raiding prostitution sites, only about 10 people at most?including the establishment owners, prostitutes, and clients?could be arrested. A police official said, "We arrested entertainment bar owners mediating prostitution on a case-by-case basis in Sillim-dong, but they continued operations by changing business names and appointing figurehead owners. They even operated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even with on-site raids, we could not arrest the actual operators, so we judged that such investigations could not eradicate prostitution mediation organizations."

The police focused on the organized communication network necessary for mediating prostitution. Their method involved entertainment bars receiving payment from customers and having them enjoy entertainment with female hostesses supplied by brothels, then moving to nearby lodging facilities for sexual relations. In this process, communication networks and fund flows between entertainment bars and brothels inevitably occurred. Therefore, the police concentrated on securing records of fund flows and phone calls of prostitution mediators rather than the mediation sites themselves. During this process, they conducted two rounds of raids and seizures at about 150 locations, including offices and residences of prostitution mediation groups. A police official said, "If it were the traditional prostitution crackdown method, we would have just raided the sites once, but this time we focused on identifying the organized connections of prostitution mediation. Through large-scale raids and seizures, we were able to expose their network."

Among the entertainment bar owners sent to the prosecution were six gangsters. They were reported to belong to the Shin Eagles faction, formed in 1999. It is known as the largest violent organization in the southwestern Seoul area, notorious for committing various violent acts such as assaulting brothel owners and female helpers and extorting money. In fact, in 2015, one member was prosecuted for violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (including retaliatory threats), extortion, confinement, and assault after violently hitting a brothel owner’s face 20 times. They were included in the gangster list managed by the police. The investigation revealed that gangsters still operate behind prostitution mediation businesses. Professor Kim Do-woo of the Department of Police Science at Gyeongnam University said, "In the past, prostitution mainly took place in visible areas such as prostitution districts, but now it has become covert and outsourced. The police should now actively investigate prostitution mediation rather than just focusing on crime prevention and management in entertainment districts."