[More Cunning Gangs②] From Shadows to Light... Prosecution's 'Investigation Neglect'

Gangsters who built ties with political and business circles to enter the 'system'... No grasp of their true nature
"Gangster crimes should be investigated as corruption crimes"... Urgent need to revive the 'Violent Crimes Division'

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] Organized crime groups (jopok) that used to operate underground are gradually expanding their activities into the open. They are securing funds by running businesses disguised as legitimate companies and infiltrating the system by building relationships with key figures in politics and business circles.

Recently, jopok have been acquiring reputable companies by establishing construction firms and then coercing suppliers to deliver parts, or by collaborating with corporate raiders to gain management rights over bankrupt or heavily indebted companies, thereby pretending to operate legitimate businesses.

Encounters with jopok in everyday life are also increasing. Former and current jopok members have become engrossed in YouTube, competing to open channels where they recount their past criminal exploits like war stories, generating income. The problem is that despite jopok evolving into corporate-style organizations, investigations and understanding of their actual conditions are not progressing smoothly.

◆Prosecutors consolidate ‘organized crime’ departments... Prosecution and police effectively neglect jopok investigations

The typical crimes committed by jopok, such as extortion, spontaneous violence, and crimes to consolidate power, which were cracked down on by prosecutors and police, sharply decreased from 2,293 cases in 2017 to 1,813 in 2018, 1,135 in 2019, 844 in 2020, 676 last year, and 219 as of June this year. This decline is attributed to the recent trend of jopok committing high-profit, sophisticated crimes, leading to a decrease in simple crimes like extortion and assault.

Until the early 2010s, large-scale crackdowns and strong investigations by law enforcement reduced the space for jopok, naturally shrinking their criminal activities. Consequently, during this period, jopok began engaging in new types of crimes to generate criminal profits in ways different from before. They expanded their domains from running private gambling halls to operating illegal online gambling sites with overseas servers, committing loan frauds worth hundreds of billions of won, and arranging overseas casino gambling trips, thereby evading investigation.

However, prosecutors failed to properly prepare for these new types of jopok crimes and instead reduced the investigative organizations targeting jopok. In 2018, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office incorporated the violent crimes division, which directed nationwide jopok investigations, into the anti-corruption division (special investigation division), and in 2020, merged the ‘Organized Crime Division’ that managed and investigated jopok with the narcotics division. This period, when the prosecutors' violent crimes division that once intimidated jopok became virtually ineffective, marked the decline of prosecutorial investigations into jopok. It effectively provided an opportunity for jopok to run rampant.

In this situation, the adjustment of investigative authority between prosecutors and police, implemented from January last year, ironically fueled jopok activities. Due to this adjustment, prosecutors' direct investigative scope in jopok crime cases was significantly limited. Furthermore, in July last year, with organizational restructuring, direct investigation departments were consolidated, reducing the six major district prosecutors' offices' violent crimes divisions to two (Incheon and Daegu), and the total number of prosecutors dedicated to narcotics and organized crime decreased. Currently, only three prosecutors' offices nationwide, including Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, have violent crimes divisions.

◆No research on ‘jopok crimes’ since 2006... "Jopok crimes are serious"

Research on jopok has effectively ceased since 2006. As jopok crime types have transformed into intelligent crimes, the traditional research methods focusing on visible crimes like violence, extortion, and gambling can no longer study the crimes recently committed by jopok.

The strict response by prosecutors and police to jopok crimes until the early 2010s also contributed to the stagnation of research. Among researchers studying jopok crimes, there was even a joke that "Korean jopok might soon be consumed by the Yakuza."

Senior Research Fellow Park Jun-hwi of the Korea Institute of Criminology and Justice explained, "Unlike in the past, violent organizations no longer openly operate but appear only during events," adding, "(Jopok) businesses tend to move overseas rather than domestically, which has influenced research."

He also said, "Because of strong crackdowns, researchers believed Korean jopok were almost extinct, nearly disbanded," and added, "Since they were not visibly active, research was neglected for about ten years, but recently there is a growing recognition of the need to study jopok crimes."

Jopok’s intelligent crimes should be regarded as corruption crimes and prepared for accordingly, but investigations by prosecutors and police remain focused on simple violence. There are growing concerns about the seriousness of the intelligent crimes recently committed by jopok.

Senior Research Fellow Park advised, "Investigations into jopok’s intelligent crimes should fundamentally be treated as corruption crime investigations," and added, "(Because jopok’s intelligent crimes) are linked to public office corruption, investigations should prioritize cutting off financial sources rather than dismantling the organizations, but recent responses to jopok crimes seem insufficient."

◆Shrunken prosecutorial ‘jopok investigations’... How to respond?

Prosecutorial investigations into jopok crimes have effectively declined since 2016. As voice phishing crimes surged, the prosecution leadership at the time redirected jopok investigation personnel to voice phishing cases, allowing jopok to run rampant amid lax surveillance. The weakening of information-gathering functions to monitor jopok trends also contributed to the decline in prosecutorial investigations.

Each district prosecutor’s office and branch should monitor jopok status to manage crimes, but information gathering itself risks being misunderstood as ‘personal surveillance,’ leading to an inevitable contraction of investigations.

Therefore, within the prosecution, there are opinions that departments investigating jopok should be consolidated in one place to share information and conduct investigations. To investigate jopok who have expanded from simple violence to financial crimes, not only the violent crimes division but also related departments such as the anti-corruption division and financial investigation division should be gathered in one prosecutor’s office to achieve ‘synergistic effects’ for proper investigations. Currently, no prosecutor’s office nationwide has all three divisions.

A prosecution official said, "Investigating jopok crimes, tracking financial flows, and identifying behind-the-scenes forces require at least three to six months," adding, "Such investigations were possible in six major district prosecutors' offices including Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in the past, but that system has collapsed."

He continued, "Many jopok are likely involved in KOSPI-listed companies, but unless their crimes are exposed, it is difficult to touch them," and emphasized, "Jopok are not afraid of going to prison; rather, they are people who walk on prison walls. They commit crimes with the intention of going to prison, so law enforcement agencies need to respond accordingly."

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