[More Cunning Gangs③] Hong Wan-hee, Head of Violent Crimes Division at Daegu District Prosecutors' Office: "Where Money Is, Gangs Are Always Present"

Prosecutor Hong, a Leading 'Strongman' of the Prosecution... "Just as Society and Economy Develop, Gangs Also Evolve"
Absence of a 'Control Tower' for Gang Investigations... Unprepared Against Intelligent Gangs

Hong Wan-hee, Head of the Violent Crimes Division, Daegu District Prosecutors' Office

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] The momentum of organized crime groups (jopok) is far from ordinary. After the 1990 "War on Crime," the jopok, which had been eradicated through massive crackdowns and joint investigations by the police and prosecution, began to resurface after 2010 when surveillance loosened. Currently, they are rampant, infiltrating from livelihood-infringing crimes such as voice phishing and drugs to financial crimes like embezzlement and stock price manipulation.

In contrast, the prosecution has been unable to respond effectively to the increasingly sophisticated crimes committed by jopok. Due to a combination of internal and external factors, such as misjudgments by the prosecution leadership and the police-prosecution investigation authority adjustment pushed by the political sphere, the frontline investigative will against jopok has been thoroughly ignored.

Despite this, the prosecution is struggling to keep the jopok investigations alive. We met Hong Wan-hee, head of the Violent Crimes Division at Daegu District Prosecutors' Office, who carries on the lineage of 'gangster experts'?a title given only to specialists in jopok investigations. Prosecutor Hong has worked in all the major district prosecutors' offices with violent crime divisions, including Seoul Central, Incheon, Daegu, Busan, and Gwangju. Currently, along with Prosecutor Hong, Park Jae-eok, chief of Changwon District Prosecutors' Office, and Cheon Ki-hong, head of the Human Rights Protection Division at Daegu District Prosecutors' Office, are considered leading violent crime experts.

Prosecutor Hong believes that organized crime is closely linked to social environments. As society and the economy develop, so do the crimes committed by jopok.

"Organized crime types can be classified by generation: the first generation focused on traditional activities like extorting entertainment establishments and operating liquor wholesalers; the second generation moved into real estate, including exercising retention rights, managing construction companies, and entering the sales market; and the third generation has entered the financial market with no-capital M&A and stock manipulation. This classification aligns with our society's economic development. During the construction boom of the 1970s and 1980s, organized crime mainly occurred in the real estate sector. From the late 1990s, as the real estate market slowed and the dot-com boom occurred, the capital market grew, and organized crime began to emerge accordingly. Ultimately, jopok's organized crime evolves toward making bigger money."

Since jopok live chasing money, they do not hesitate to do anything as long as it earns money, even if it is criminal. Prosecutor Hong believes that jopok are always present wherever money is involved.

"Organized crime occurs wherever money can be made. Jopok are active in various fields such as sports (match-fixing), smuggling, stock markets, and futures trading. There have even been cases where jopok were mobilized to distribute money during general elections. Jopok crimes appear in diverse areas. They consider it natural to use violence whenever necessary. Since jopok can do anything for money, whether in the stock market or gambling sites, they engage in profitable businesses and use violence in the process."

Recently, there has been an increasing trend of jopok disguising themselves as legitimate business operators and respectable entrepreneurs while committing crimes. However, investigative agencies like the prosecution have almost no information on them. Because investigative and intelligence functions did not operate properly during their growth period, they have become defenseless.

"The number of criminal intelligence investigators has decreased. Monitoring is a sensitive issue nowadays compared to the past, but we need to rebuild capabilities related to criminal intelligence and expand dedicated prosecutors and investigators for organized crime. The police can legally collect information, so cooperation with the police has become more important. The problem is that if jopok or anyone creates a company and the business does well, there is no way to stop it. We must block the funding process where crime naturally occurs. Since jopok businesses always mix legal and illegal activities, it is not easy to detect jopok committing sophisticated crimes."

While jopok crimes have become more intelligent and diversified, there are criticisms that prosecution investigations have regressed. Although crimes involving jopok have increased, departments dedicated to investigating organized crime have been consolidated or eliminated, depriving opportunities for investigation. As a result, recent prosecution investigations have been limited to punishing violent acts arising from power struggles between organizations in local areas.

"It is very concerning, but it is true that the number of organized crime suspects prosecuted by the prosecution has noticeably decreased over the past five years. There is serious concern that the prosecution's capacity to respond to jopok has weakened. The biggest problem is the restriction on prosecutors' direct investigations into organized crime cases. Violations of the Act on the Punishment of Violent Crimes and crimes related to criminal organizations under the Criminal Act are not included within the scope of prosecutors' direct investigation. The reduction of dedicated departments and personnel for jopok crimes is also a serious issue. Last July, with the consolidation of direct investigation departments, the violent crime divisions in the six major district prosecutors' offices nationwide were reduced to two. Although the Central District Prosecutors' Office's Violent Crimes Division was reinstated this July, the number of dedicated prosecutors and investigators decreased. At minimum, dedicated organized crime departments should be established in the six major district prosecutors' offices nationwide."

Prosecutor Hong also emphasized the need for a 'control tower' capable of directing organized crime investigations.

"We should also consider separating investigation departments for anti-corruption crimes and organized crimes. Since the investigative techniques, key issues, and legal principles differ between anti-corruption and organized crime, it is efficient for department heads with expertise in each field to oversee investigations. I am concerned that under the pretext of reducing the total amount of direct investigations, the simple integration of these two distinct investigative functions has diluted focus, weakening their unique investigative capabilities and expertise. Especially, establishing a dedicated organized crime department at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office is very necessary. Such a department would oversee frontline violent organizations and organized economic crimes, develop investigative techniques, and support international cooperation on cases like voice phishing, among many other tasks."

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