Seven People Including a 30-Year-Old Business Owner Arrested in Bulk for Facilitating Prostitution at an Officetel

A gang that employed foreign women and moved around regions to broker prostitution in officetels was caught by the police.

The Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency announced on the 25th that they arrested one business owner in their 30s and one general manager in their 40s, while four accomplices in their 20s and 30s, and a 60-year-old officetel manager were released without detention.

According to the provincial police agency, they are suspected of renting 17 officetel units in Changwon and Gimhae in Gyeongnam, Busan, and Chuncheon in Gangwon from February 2021 to March this year, employing foreign women to broker prostitution.

They advertised the women on prostitution brokerage sites and had them serve unspecified customers who came after seeing the ads, charging between 90,000 and 250,000 KRW per course.

An officetel manager in Changwon is suspected of leaking police crackdown information in advance, enabling the business owners to escape.

Inside the officetel where prostitution mediation took place.
[Photo by Gyeongnam Police Agency]

After receiving intelligence about the operation of a prostitution business in June last year, the police conducted CCTV and communication investigations to identify and narrow down on Mr. A.

Mr. A, who learned about the police investigation through the officetel manager, fled from Changwon to Chuncheon in Gangwon Province and resumed operating an officetel prostitution business before being caught and arrested by the police.

The police arrested the mastermind, Mr. B, through additional investigations of Mr. A’s mobile phone and apprehended the remaining accomplices, capturing all involved.

To ensure the effectiveness of confiscation and fines, the police applied for pre-indictment seizure and confiscation of illegal earnings and received approval for 166 million KRW.

They plan to apply for additional pre-indictment seizure and confiscation for another 300 million KRW of illegal earnings confirmed through accomplice investigations.

A representative of the provincial police agency said, “We will continue to crack down on prostitution businesses operating underground to eradicate illegal activities.”

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