Supreme Court Confirms Heavy Sentences for Youth Female Prostitution Mediation Gang... Imprisonment 7 to 16 Years

Supreme Court Grand Bench. Photo by Supreme Court

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] A heavy sentence has been confirmed for a group that intimidated female adolescents under the age of 19 to mediate prostitution and collected money under the pretext of protection fees.

The Supreme Court's First Division on the 29th upheld the original sentences sentencing Mr. A to 7 years in prison, Mr. B to 12 years, Mr. C to 16 years, and Mr. D to 14 years, who were indicted for violating the Act on the Protection of Children and Juveniles from Sexual Abuse (mediation business), and the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (joint extortion), among other charges.

The court stated, "Considering various factors that affect sentencing such as the defendants' age, character, environment, relationship with the victims, motives, means and results of each crime, and circumstances after the crimes, even if the mitigating circumstances claimed in the appeal are taken into account, the original sentencing for the defendants cannot be considered excessively unfair."

Mr. B and others met Mr. A, who had been running a prostitution mediation business around Masan, at a coffee shop in Changwon City on January 29, 2020, and conspired to make money by arranging conditional meetings with women through a mobile phone application (app).

Thereafter, when Mr. A used a spontaneous meeting app to arrange conditional meetings with female adolescents, the rest of the group would raid the scene and threaten to report to the police, then lure the prostitution women by saying, "If you do prostitution alone, you may face such dangerous situations, but if you do prostitution with us, you can earn a lot of money safely."

From January 30 to March 13, 2020, through such "conditional hunting," they recruited six prostitution women aged 14 to 20, managed them at a shared residence, and mediated prostitution.

When the victim women received 100,000 to 150,000 won per prostitution transaction, they took a certain amount as protection fees.

Mr. C and Mr. D are also accused of tracking down women who escaped from the shared residence, confining them in a car, verbally abusing them, and confiscating their mobile phones and other items.

Previously, the first trial sentenced Mr. A to 7 years, Mr. B to 15 years, Mr. C to 18 years, and Mr. D to 16 years in prison respectively. However, in the second trial, some charges were changed or acquitted, resulting in reduced sentences.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.