Business Owners Who Threatened and Detained Illegal Massage Workers Acquitted in First Trial

[Asia Economy Reporter Seoyoung Kwon] Two business owners who threatened and confined foreign female massage therapists staying illegally have been acquitted.

On the 13th, the Chuncheon District Court Criminal Division 3 (Judge Sooyoung Jung) announced that it had acquitted two people, A (37) and B (39), who were charged with joint confinement. The two were accused of confining Thai female massage therapists C (21) and D (20), who worked at a traditional Thai massage shop they operated in late July 2018.

A and B told the victims, "You lost customers because you did not have sexual relations with them." When C and D said they wanted to quit their jobs, they threatened to report the two illegal immigrants to the police. In addition, A confiscated the victims' mobile phones and confined them for 12 hours and 30 minutes to prevent them from reporting to the police.

A and B were tried on charges of joint confinement but were acquitted in the first trial. The court judged that the evidence submitted by the prosecution lacked evidentiary value, considering that the victims had mobile phones when the police arrived at the scene, and that no confrontation investigation with the victims was conducted despite the defendants denying the confinement.

Chief Judge Jung stated, "Based solely on the evidence submitted by the prosecution, it is insufficient to recognize that the defendants jointly confined the victims, and there is no other evidence to acknowledge this," adding, "The charges in this case correspond to a situation where the crime has not been proven."

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