The production company, which posted a video on YouTube showing a mobile phone store where one can subscribe to domestic telecommunications services using illegal passports, reported the relevant details to the jurisdictional police station on the 28th.
On the 24th, a video content series titled 'Am I a New Police Officer in Garibong-dong!?' was uploaded to YouTube. 'Am I a New Police Officer?' is a popular segment of 'Workman,' a JTBC web entertainment YouTube channel with 4.17 million subscribers.
In the video, Tsuki, a member of the group Billy, became a daily police officer in Garibong-dong and patrolled the area with actual police officers. During this process, Tsuki and the police officers visited a mobile phone store. Some customers in the store were surprised and hurriedly fled the scene. The production team added subtitles saying, 'Bring back my customers' in response to the store owner's awkward expression.
This store had the phrase '非法护照开卡' (illegal passport issuance) written on it. This means that they provide SIM cards using illegal passports. It implies that telecommunications services are being activated for foreigners illegally residing in the country using illegal passports. There were reactions such as, 'They wrote about illegal business on the sign' and 'Is the police just going to ignore this?' The area where the video was filmed, Garibong-dong, is known as a filming location for the movie 'The Outlaws' and is also a gathering place for ethnic Koreans from China. Numerous criminal incidents have occurred, raising further controversy.
In response, the 'Am I a New Police Officer?' team left a brief statement in a pinned comment on the video saying, 'The specific stores reported have been communicated to the jurisdictional police station, and that segment of the video has been deleted.'
Those who forge passports or use and possess forged passports will face criminal penalties. According to Article 225 of the Criminal Code, forging public documents can result in imprisonment for more than one year and up to ten years. In cases of passport forgery and misuse, imprisonment of up to three years or fines of up to 30 million won may be imposed.