Employees of businesses that brokered prostitution in officetels across the greater Seoul area were arrested by police. A total of 590 buyers who used these businesses were also caught, and 17 of them were found to be public officials.
The Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency's Crime Prevention and Order Division said on the 24th that it arrested a man in his 30s, identified only by the family name A, the operator of a prostitution business, on suspicion of violating the Act on the Punishment of Acts of Arranging Sexual Traffic, and sent three Deputy Ministers at the business and 67 women engaged in prostitution to the prosecution without detention.
Police also booked without detention 590 men in their 20s to 60s who bought sex at the business operated by A and handed them over to the prosecution.
A and others are suspected of brokering prostitution by renting about 20 officetels in the capital region from Oct. 2022 to on Feb. They was found to have posted advertisements on prostitution brokering websites and then guided the pre-booked buyers to the time and place of the prostitution by text message, KakaoTalk, and Telegram.
A and others was found to have frequently moved offices to avoid crackdowns by investigative agencies. They was found to have also used burner phones and closed-circuit (CC) TV.
Police identified 17 of the 590 buyers caught this time as public officials, such as government employees or staff at public institutions, and notified each agency of the misconduct.
Police found in the course of the investigation that A and others took in 4 billion won in criminal revenue. Of that, 1.2 billion won was frozen as a pre-indictment preservation for forfeiture.
A police official said, "It was found that there were no public officials from oversight agencies such as the police or the prosecution among those caught," and added, "Prostitution is also rampant in officetels nationwide, and we plan to continue crackdowns until it is eradicated."