Korean Job Discussion Forums

[lovalova]

Has anyone heard of Korean mafia? I think NKorea has mafia but not SKorea. I could understand why NK would have mafia being under the communist thumb and all. Now how about SK. Do they have something like that or at least some organised crime. Anything that is not an ordinary theft or a simple act of violence. So how about it. Does SK have mafia?

Ciao.

[Zed]

Why would you think there was mafia in a Stalinist state moreso than a capitalist democracy rife with corruption? I bet they've got far better control of that north of the DMZ.

[lovalova]

So you are saying there is not. Why not? One would wonder about the opportunities this country has being corrupted and all. It would be easy. So are Koreans not imaginative or are they not brave enough. Hmmmmmmm maybe they are all well educated and don��t need to resort to violence. Come on someone must have seen or heard of something.

[Zed]

I'm not saying that there's no mafia or mafia-like group here.

I was questioning this:

[jurassic5]

just gangsters...they own a lot of the clubs, bars etc in certain parts of seoul...

[lovalova]

Aren��t gangsters members of mafia or are you talking about those little groups of people who think they are the big groups of people (mafia). So they own a night club but why are they gangsters. Do they deal drugs in them do they have illegal gambling dens behind (I don��t expect you to know 100% about gambling ) what is it that makes them gangsters. If you ask me I think there is a lot of potential there for the willing.

[jurassic5]

dunno...just know they are gangsters...check out the nonhyeon area for gangsters...my friends hair shop is there and she cuts all the gangster's and hostess' hair...dunno what they do...i've heard the people on the subway who ask for money(ex: men and women without certain body parts etc), somehow owe the gangsters money...so they are there begging for it....that's what i heard.

[Bulsajo]

Bucheon too, apparently.

[SuperFly]

Mokpo has a few.

[Ya-ta Boy]

Of course there is organized crime in Korea. They are active in the sex industry and bars/night clubs. No surprise there. I have no idea how widespread it is, but I've been told that bars in some areas have to pay protection money so their place of business doesn't burn down. Someone told me that the seaweed farms on the south coast are also involved with the mafia.

[peppermint]

From what I understand most of Itaewon is run by gangsters. There's a whole lot of grey area around the Korean legal system, so there's lots of room for them to operate.

An example of what can happen when a gangster owns a night club: Last year, a government official went to a club and there were some not so legal things happening in his VIP room, that got caught on film. I believe the club owner tried to blackmail the guy and it was big news for a while.

[lush72]

When I saw the title of this thread I thought it was about the Korean Government!

[Toby]

Yes they exist.

There has been numerous threads on this before. They are harmless to foreigners.

Number 1 in Korea = Kwangju and Mokpo
Number 2 in Korea = Itaewon
Number 3 in Korea = Pusan

And so it goes on.

Prostitution. Construction. Drugs(what few there are). Protection. Money Lending.

Those are their main areas. Don't involve yourself with them and they won't involve themselves with you. They will usually steer clear from foreigners.

They are exceptionally easy to spot - theyhaven't mastered camoflague yet.

In comparison to other Asian mafia's, they are bunch of poofs. Not that I want to get up against them again, but in comparison to others they are really nothing to fear.

[rapier]

[Toby]