Seoul police arrest 34 members of rebuilt gang

A criminal organization known as the Shiinnambudong faction, which collapsed in 2003, was dismantled by police after attempting to rebuild over more than 20 years. A 45-year-old member, the youngest at the time of the gang’s disbandment, recruited new members in their 20s and 30s during that period. Investigators said the group also drew in teenagers who admired the gang’s image.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Criminal Unit announced on Aug. 14 that it had arrested 34 members and associates of the gang, active in Seoul’s Gangseo District, and referred them to prosecutors. Nine, including the gang’s deputy leader identified as Kang, have been detained, while five fugitives remain at large. Two members in Vietnam have had their passports revoked and are subject to Interpol red notices.

The Sin-Nambu-dong faction traces its origins to the 1980s, when the Nambu-dong faction operated around the Yeongdeungpo District Office. The gang expanded its influence to areas including Gangseo District before disbanding in 2003 following the arrest of its leader, Jeon Mo. In 2007, Kang, then the youngest member, joined the organization and eventually took control after Jeon’s arrest. As second-in-command, Kang recruited half of the new members, 16 in total, over the past five years. Investigators said he also used imprisoned members to identify and bring in new recruits from inside prisons.

The gang maintained a training facility in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, where members underwent three months of “conduct education” designed to instill organizational culture and hierarchy. Recruits were taught to begin letters to senior members with phrases such as, “I gratefully received your letter, sir,” and to greet senior members in prison with, “Did you rest well, sir,” practicing what authorities called “prison and correspondence etiquette.” The group also created a “10-point code of conduct” emphasizing hierarchy, including rules such as “never back down in fights with other gangs” and “seek strict revenge for betrayal.” Authorities said the code was also used to physically punish defectors.

The gang extorted up to 1.5 million won per month from brothel owners, totaling around 100 million won, and disrupted a corporate shareholders’ meeting by hiring about 10 people to assault attendees, demonstrating classic “traditional gang” behavior. Most members were unemployed or day laborers in their teens to 30s, with 27 of the 34 arrested members, or 84 percent, joining in their 20s. One recruit joined as a 17-year-old high school student, reportedly drawn to the gang’s image of loyalty and its “brotherhood culture.”


전남혁기자 forward@donga.com