The Supreme Court has ruled that police posing as customers to crack down on massage parlors engaged in quasi-sexual acts is legal.
The Supreme Court's First Petty Bench (presiding Justice Chun Dae-yup) said on Apr. 16 that it upheld a lower court ruling that fined an indicted foreign national, identified as A, 1 million won in a final appeal in a case involving a charge of violating the Act on the Punishment of Acts of Arranging Sexual Traffic.
A ran a massage parlor in Gunpo, Gyeonggi, from June 2022 to July 2023. Police officer B entered the business around 4:30 p.m. on July 27, 2023, posing as a customer, and asked A, "Does it include a hand job for 80,000 won?" and A nodded to the customer.
A then guided B to a massage course that included a quasi-sexual act (commonly called "hand") and arranged prostitution by sending an employee into the room B had entered.
The first trial acquitted A. The first-trial panel said, "A is a foreign national and had not worked long at the massage parlor, so it is hard to see that A accurately understood the officer's hand gesture and the concept of the term 'hand.'"
During the trial, A's side argued that B conducted an unlawful sting operation and that the indictment should be dismissed. The appeals court, however, fined A 1 million won. The appellate panel said, "Businesses where quasi-sexual acts are likely to occur operate covertly, so it is hard to view investigators posing as customers and entering as an unlawful investigation."
The appellate panel also said, "A entered the country in Aug. 2010 as the spouse of a (Korean) national and has resided for more than 15 years," adding, "Given that the investigation proceeded without the help of an interpreter, A appears able to communicate smoothly in Korean."
The Supreme Court rejected A's appeal, finding that the lower court did not misunderstand the law.