Police Implement Special Crackdown on Organized Crime in the First Half of the Year

Implementation Period: March 13 to July 12 (4 Months)

The police will launch a special crackdown on organized crime in the first half of the year. They plan to focus particularly on corporate-type and intelligent illegal activities, illegal acts targeting ordinary citizens, and illegal activities involving gangsters at construction sites.

On the 12th, the National Investigation Headquarters of the National Police Agency announced that it will conduct a special crackdown on organized crime for four months from the 13th to July 12. Through this, the police plan to preemptively suppress the rise of violent organizations and respond strictly by conducting comprehensive and multi-dimensional investigations into already occurred organized crime cases.

The main targets of the special crackdown on organized crime in the first half of the year are corporate-type and intelligent illegal activities (gambling sites, telephone financial fraud, proxy goods, etc.), illegal acts targeting ordinary citizens (group assaults, protection money extortion, creating anxiety, etc.), and illegal activities involving gangsters at construction sites (obstruction of business, coercion, retaliatory crimes, etc.).

The police stated that they will focus on crimes that are increasingly becoming widespread and sophisticated, mainly illegal acts and businesses threatening ordinary citizens and economic order, concentrating all possible investigative resources centered on the dedicated organized crime investigation team.

In particular, as cases have been confirmed where some gangsters have committed organized illegal acts for profit, such as 'extortion targeting construction companies and forced hiring' at construction sites, the government-wide criminal bureau will also strictly crack down on violent acts at construction sites in coordination with the police.

The police reported that, having established a specialized investigation system for organized crime and with investigative capabilities accumulated over several years, the number of arrests related to organized crime increased by 6.7% last year compared to the previous year, and the number of arrests of newly joined and active violent organization members also increased by 20.1% during the same period.

Considering that minor disputes between gangs escalate into group assaults between organizations, the police operate joint response teams from the early stages of intelligence gathering and continuously carry out preventive activities such as preemptive contingency measures to prevent conflicts between violent organizations. The number of contingency measures increased 10.8 times last year (215 times) compared to the previous year (20 times).

Furthermore, to prevent illegal businesses by gangsters and block criminal proceeds from flowing into organizational funds, the police focused on seizure and confiscation preservation before prosecution during the investigation stage. As a result, the amount preserved last year (6.46 billion won) increased 2.6 times compared to the previous year (2.48 billion won).

The police stated, "We will strongly respond to organized crime by suppressing the expansion of existing violent organizations and conducting even stricter investigations on new organizations, combining continuous crackdowns with systematic management." They added, "We thoroughly guarantee the identity of informants who have suffered or witnessed crimes by gangsters and provide tailored victim protection measures, so we ask for the active reporting and cooperation of the public."

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