700,000-Member Korea's Largest Prostitution Site 'Bam-ui Jeonjaeng' Operator Forced Repatriation

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Jo] The National Police Agency announced on the 22nd that it forcibly repatriated the operator of the country's largest prostitution brokerage site, "Bam-ui Jeonjaeng" (War of the Night), who was apprehended in the Philippines.

The operator of Bam-ui Jeonjaeng, Mr. A, is accused of running the prostitution brokerage site from April 2014 to January last year, promoting prostitution establishments and collecting approximately 17 billion KRW under the name of advertising fees. Bam-ui Jeonjaeng, operated by him, is the largest prostitution brokerage site in the country with over 700,000 registered members. Earlier, after receiving intelligence on the Bam-ui Jeonjaeng site in 2019, the National Police Agency launched an investigation, shutting down four sites and arresting 19 people including the domestic head. They also conducted crackdowns on 789 establishments listed on the site, arresting 2,522 related individuals including owners, employees, and clients.

Mr. A fled to the Philippines in 2016, prior to the police investigation, and continued to evade capture even after a co-operator was arrested in 2019. The National Police Agency requested a red notice from Interpol Headquarters and, through cooperation with the Philippine Interpol and local judicial authorities, apprehended Mr. A in September last year. When the Philippine authorities approved Mr. A's deportation last month, the police dispatched an escort team to the Philippines and forcibly repatriated him to Korea on this day.

Meanwhile, the National Police Agency also repatriated Mr. B, who served as a telephone counselor in a phone fraud criminal organization, together with Mr. A from Manila on the same day. Kang Gitaek, head of the Interpol International Cooperation Division, stated, "This is a model case demonstrating that those who commit crimes will inevitably be caught and face legal judgment after repatriation," and added, "We will continue to repatriate fugitives overseas through ongoing international cooperation with foreign police agencies."

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