Prosecutors Indict 39 Including Sunoa-pa Members for Hyatt Hotel Disturbance

The prosecution has indicted 39 individuals, including members of the violent gang 'Sunoa-pa,' who caused a disturbance at the Namsan Hyatt Hotel in October 2020.

Prosecutors [Photo by Yonhap News]

The Violent Crime Investigation Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Shin Junho) announced on the 30th that it has arrested and indicted nine key members of Sunoa-pa for violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes (organization formation and activities) and other charges related to the disturbance at the Hyatt Hotel, while the remaining 30 related individuals were indicted without detention.

Among the Sunoa-pa members, 12 individuals including Mr. A are accused of causing a commotion at the Hyatt Hotel in Hannam-dong, Seoul, by staying there for three nights and four days at the end of October 2020, demanding a meeting with Bae Sang-yoon, chairman of KH Group, and threatening hotel staff. They also verbally abused the band and guests during a restaurant band performance and forced the performance to stop. Despite hotel staff's attempts to stop them, they exposed tattoos on their entire bodies while using the sauna, smoked in their rooms, performed gangster-style bowing greetings, and walked around the hotel in groups, thereby disrupting hotel operations. The other 27 individuals are understood to have joined as Sunoa-pa operatives from June 2016 to July last year and participated in the incident under the direction of Mr. A and others.

The prosecution concluded that this incident was a turf war between violent organizations. It was investigated that deputy-level members of Sunoa-pa, who had invested in private equity funds operated by Chairman Bae, who had acquired the hotel at the time, and suffered losses, ordered gang members to cause the disturbance in order to recover the losses.

Judging this case as a 'serious organized crime incident,' the prosecution took over the case from the police in February last year and launched a full-scale direct investigation. They conducted large-scale raids on Sunoa-pa's dormitory in Gangnam, Seoul, and entertainment bars operated by the organization. Subsequently, seven participants in the hotel disturbance were arrested, and 21 newly joined members were booked and investigated. A total of 39 individuals, including 18 gang members transferred from the police, were prosecuted this time, effectively dismantling the organization.

The prosecution plans to use this case as a stepping stone to strengthen intelligence gathering and investigative activities against major organized crime groups nationwide. They stated they will actively investigate related crimes, root out participating gang members and their backers, and strictly respond by dismantling the organizations. During the forensic examination of the mobile phones of Sunoa-pa members, it was confirmed that major violent organizations nationwide, such as International Mafia and Texas, are currently active. It was also confirmed that they hold regular meetings both online and offline, strengthening mutual solidarity and consolidating their power.

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