At an entertainment bar in Seomyeon, Busan, a man in his 30s who had drunk two bottles of whisky and one bottle of soju over an hour and 30 minutes said he couldn't drink any more. The staff then forced him to drink half a bottle of whisky, and when he lost consciousness, they left him outside in the middle of summer, where he died.
The Busan District Prosecutors' Office Criminal Division 3 (Director General Bae Sang-yoon) said on the 29th that it had indicted without detention two co-owners of the entertainment bar, Namsung A, 36, and B, 40, on charges including violating the Food Sanitation Act and causing death by abandonment.
Police requested arrest warrants for both, but the court issued a warrant only for A. When B was referred without detention, prosecutors immediately began a supplementary investigation and uncovered additional criminal facts through closed-circuit (CC)TV footage and mobile phone forensics. They then reapplied for an arrest warrant, which was issued, and ultimately both co-owners of the entertainment bar were indicted in custody.
At this entertainment bar, a regular customer, C (35 at the time of death), died on Aug. 16 last year. C and A became close after learning they had served in the same military unit. Afterward, C frequently visited the bar as a customer, but A exploited the fact that C drank quickly and became intoxicated soon, selling fake whisky (so-called "fukashi whisky") or charging inflated prices.
C visited the bar in the early morning of Aug. 16, after Liberation Day last year. All rooms were full at the time, but B's regular customer arrived. A and B then had C, who had already drunk two bottles of whisky and one bottle of soju in an hour and 30 minutes and said he couldn't drink, order one more bottle of whisky. A then hit C, forced his mouth open, and made him drink half a bottle of whisky.
When C became completely intoxicated and lost consciousness, A and B grabbed his arms and legs and carried him out of the room, and within 27 seconds admitted B's regular customer to that room. During a severe heat wave, C was left for nine hours on a smoking area sofa outside the bar without air conditioning and died of acute alcohol poisoning.
From September last year to November this year, A and B collected leftover whisky that customers had not finished into one container such as a PET jug to make fake whisky, then passed it off as genuine whisky and sold it. Domestic whisky sold at this bar had an alcohol content of 36.4%, but the seized fake whisky had an alcohol content of 40.4%.
In the entertainment bar industry, overcharging intoxicated customers, excessively charging on credit cards when customers fall asleep, or serving fake whisky is said to be called "working" or "shooting a gun."
A and B directly solicited customers and selected those who were already intoxicated, came alone, or seemed gullible, then instructed waiters to "work" them. To make the whisky appear new, the waiters covered the bottle caps with their hands and carried them into the rooms.
A and B claimed they served C "just leftover liquor," but prosecutors, looking at the venue's ledger, inferred that "fukashi whisky" had been provided.
A and B also lent or sold fake whisky to nearby entertainment bars. A prosecution official said, "Because the manufacturing and sale of 'fukashi whisky' does not appear to be a problem unique to the defendants' bar, customers should be cautious."
According to prosecutors, in December 2023, at another entertainment bar in Seomyeon, Busan, the owner and so-called "bikii" worked a customer and left the customer unattended, leading to death from acute alcohol poisoning.
A prosecution official said, "To eradicate the practices of unscrupulous entertainment bar operators who care nothing for customer safety and think only of 'making money,' harsh punishment is needed for everyone who even partially participates in crimes against customers."