Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Announces 'Youth Gambling Eradication' Campaign: "Golden Time to Prevent Spread"

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced on the 18th that it will carry out the 'Youth Gambling Eradication Relay Challenge Campaign' until September 17 to raise awareness about the dangers of illegal cyber gambling among youth and to prevent the spread of illegal gambling.

Chief Jo Ji-ho of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency is shouting slogans with participants at the 'Youth Gambling Eradication Relay Challenge' campaign launch ceremony held at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency auditorium on the 18th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency expressed concern, stating, "Recently, illegal cyber gambling is rapidly spreading among youth," and "It is emerging as a serious social problem as it leads to severe secondary crimes such as school violence and extortion to raise gambling funds."

They added, "Under the urgent recognition that now is the last 'golden time' to prevent large-scale spread, we have launched this campaign," explaining the purpose of the campaign as "We are fully responding to raise awareness of the seriousness of youth gambling."

According to the police, the number of youths arrested for gambling offenses last year was 37, an increase of 208.3% compared to the previous year (12).

Accordingly, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency decided to launch a 'relay challenge' campaign to eradicate youth gambling crimes. The relay challenge message was selected as "Illegal cyber gambling, a fraud crime that can never be won."

Those wishing to participate can join by posting the campaign-related images provided by the police on their social networking service (SNS) accounts and nominating up to three next participants. Participation is also possible voluntarily even if not nominated by others.

To increase participation, the police plan to select 100 participants who post messages related to youth gambling eradication and provide prizes.

Jo Ji-ho, Commissioner of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, took the lead as the first participant in this gambling eradication relay challenge. At the campaign launch ceremony held on the 18th at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency auditorium, Commissioner Jo nominated Oh Se-hoon, Mayor of Seoul, Cho Hee-yeon, Superintendent of Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, and Ahn Hyun-kyung, a student at Gangil High School participating in the Seoul Police Youth Policy Advisory Group, as the next participants.

Commissioner Jo said, "Addictive crimes such as gambling have a high likelihood of recidivism, so a comprehensive and multidimensional approach including prevention and treatment, as well as crackdown and investigation, is necessary," and added, "I hope this campaign will serve as an opportunity for all citizens to recognize the seriousness of youth gambling."

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