Prosecutors have indicted and detained a group of ‘MZ gangsters’ who operated a prostitution business by employing foreign women. Through a supplementary investigation, they found hidden ledgers and additionally identified 277 million won in criminal proceeds.

According to Kyunghyang Shinmun reporting on the 16th, the Criminal Division 2 of the Suwon District Prosecutors Office (Chief Prosecutor Cho Eun-su) on the 2nd indicted and detained Park (30), Kim (29), Hyun (30), and Yoo (31) on charges of arranging prostitution under the Act on the Punishment of Prostitution.

Park and the others are accused of renting 24 officetel units in the areas of Suwon, Ansan, Yongin, and Osan from September 2024 through last month, hiring foreigners, and arranging prostitution.

Park is a former member of the Suwon-based gang ‘Suwon Nammun faction’ and was found to be a middle school classmate of Kim. Kim is a former member of the Anyang-based gang ‘Anyang Tiger faction’. After serving sentences for organizing a criminal group, Park and Kim are believed to have, after release, drawn neighborhood acquaintances Hyun and Yoo into the offenses. Kim is also understood to have prior convictions for similar offenses.

The Gyeonggi Nambu National Police Agency referred Kim's group to prosecutors in custody on the 15th of last month. The police determined that they advertised the business on Telegram and set up a separate office in a residential building equipped with computers and reservation phones for each establishment. Working in two shifts and sharing information on crackdowns, they operated the business in an organized manner, the police said. They specified that Kim's group took brokerage fees of 100,000 to 370,000 won and generated about 667 million won in criminal proceeds.

After receiving the case, prosecutors, through a supplementary investigation, identified ledgers the police had not discovered. The ledgers were found to have been saved under different names such as ‘Notepad’, ‘a two-letter Korean abbreviation’, and ‘March Mango’. Through analysis of the ledgers, prosecutors additionally identified about 277 million won in criminal proceeds, referred Kim's group in custody, and also sought preservation for confiscation of the additional criminal proceeds.