Tuesday, March 11, 2008 Malig: Korean gangsters in the Philippines? By Jun A. Malig Cognition
QUOTING Korean businessmen in Metro Manila, a national daily reported last Monday that the Philippines is becoming a "haven" of Korean mafia.
The Korean gangsters, according to the report, have grown bigger in the country and could have already outnumbered the Japanese Yakuza and the Chinese Triad.
The gangsters reportedly harass, intimidate and demand protection money from their compatriots, especially those involved in business.
Those who refuse to accommodate the gangsters' demands are threatened with physical harm or death, the report said, adding that the Korean organized crime groups also hire local assassins to deal with their victims.
The report cited the incident that took place in Porac town barely three months ago, where a Korean couple operating a language school was killed by masked men in front of their horrified children.
It was reported that the Korean gangsters have connections within some government agencies and law enforcement units who facilitate the entry into the country of undesirable aliens and wanted criminals and shield them from arrest.
The gangsters are believed to be behind the kidnapping and murder of Koreans in the Philippines, most of them unreported.
In July last year, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) arrested a Korean national who resides in Angeles City.
The suspect, along with two other Koreans, was wanted for allegedly killing two compatriots and wounding another.
Yu Yong Yel was allegedly with a certain Bruce Lee and Chang Hwan Lee, when they killed two Koreans and wounded another in Barangay Tabun in Angeles City on March 5, 2007.
The former live-in partner of the primary suspect, Bruce, told CIDG investigators that the Korean had a dragon tattoo on his back.
International papers, including a United Nations (UN) report, state that with the globalization trend, Korean organized crime groups have widened their field of operation.
Aside from the usual threat and violence and blackmailing, they are now engaged in profitable businesses, regardless of whether it is legal or illegal. These include drug manufacturing and trafficking, gambling, prostitution, smuggling of persons, and entertainment.
The UN report said private loan businesses, credit card discounts, construction contracts, real estate dealings, credit card counterfeiting, waste disposal, insurance fraud, and export of used cars are among the organized crime groups' means of accumulating funds that they invest into legal businesses.
Eventually, it stated: "it becomes more and more difficult to distinguish between the businesses of criminal organizations and businesses operated by other legitimate entities," especially now that "members of criminal organizations are transforming into businessmen with smart appearance."
Reportedly, Korean organized crime groups reportedly have strong connections with Yakuza, Triads, and other "mafia" organizations in their international operations. The places where Korean gangsters are known to come from include Gwangju, Mokpo, Busan, and Incheon.
By the way, it was learned that 15 percent of all Japan-based Yakuzas are reportedly Koreans. The group is said to be heavily involved in sex-related industries.
"In China, where the law restricts the amount of children per household and the cultural preference is for boys, the yakuza can buy unwanted girls for as little as US$5,000 and put them to work in the mizu shobai, which means 'water trade' and refers to the night entertainment business, in yakuza-controlled bars, nightclubs and restaurants. The Philippines are another source of young women. Yakuza trick girls from impoverished villages into coming to Japan, where they are promised respectable jobs with good wages. Instead, they are forced into becoming prostitutes and strippers. Often the girls succumb to the demands of their pimps, since they are earning more money than they ever could in the Philippines," an article of an encyclopedia stated.
A Philadelphia-based newspaper reported the following: In rural South Korea, young girls are often abducted from their villages by gangsters who run prostitution rings. Many of the kidnapped girls end up working for international prostitution racketeers who make millions by moving these women from Korea to the US and pimping them.
The gangsters set the girls up in sham marriages with American soldiers stationed in South Korea. When the soldiers return to the US, they're paid a second fee to turn their "wives" over to Korean-American criminals who put the women to work in massage parlors and "spas" across the country.
Philadelphia law enforcement sources have found Korean gang members involved in prostitution parlors and suspect their involvement in an international heroin trafficking syndicate which moves heroin from Hong Kong to Vancouver, and then onto Toronto and down to New York and, in some cases, Philadelphia.
Korean-American gangsters often target fellow Asian-American business owners and new refugees through "home invasion" robberies.
The gangs smash their way into the homes of Asian immigrants and beat their victims until they reveal where their valuables and money are hidden.
Many recent Asian immigrants keep their money at home or invest in jewelry, particularly gold.
A Korean businessman who lives in Cheltenham said: "Don't use my name because my community will be very angry that I'm speaking to you. We don't have as great a problem in Philadelphia as New York or Los Angeles does, but we've had Korean Power and Korean Killer gangs coming through here for years."
"The gangs will rob one of us but we almost never report these crimes to the police," he explained. "The Korean-language media here won't cover these crimes and our community leaders will vehemently deny it ever happens. It's embarrassing so we don't talk about it. That's our culture. If we don't talk about it, it didn't happen."
