Feds Take Down Korean Brothel Ring

Who says Roh Moo-Hyun has no love for America? His war on prostitution has it positively cascading into the United States, in this case, the Los Angeles area:

A federal grand jury handed down indictments today charging 24 persons for their role in a sophisticated human smuggling scheme that allegedly brought hundreds of South Korean women into the United States to work as prostitutes. Named in the two multi-count indictments issued today are 23 individuals originally charged in the investigation and a 24th suspect who was identified following the take down of the case June 30. That individual, Mi Ae Kim, a.k.a. Ae-Kyeong Kim, age 48, allegedly owned and operated a brothel known as the 7th Spa.

. . . .
The indictments stem from a lengthy investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Division, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The investigation focused on a criminal network dubbed the Jung Organization that allegedly smuggled South Korean women into the United States and then provided the women to brothel operators.

The brothels were concealed behind businesses that purported to be massage parlors and “out-call service” operations. The prostitutes were allegedly managed by an underground network of Korean “taxi” services operated by members and associates of the Jung Organization. The “taxi” services coordinated the prostitutes’ daily schedules and worked hand-in-hand with the brothel operators.

Remember those stories you heard about all those women being exploited into the business? Yes, some of that appears to have been going on here, but most of the women appear to have made calculating business decisions:

Affidavits filed in the case allege that the organization’s ringleaders, Young Joon Jung and Ho Kyung Kim, oversaw efforts to recruit prospective prostitutes in South Korea and then arranged for them to be brought to the United States. Some of the women were smuggled into the country across the Mexican and Canadian borders. Others traveled to the United States on fraudulently obtained visitors’ visas.

The women allegedly paid up to $16,000 each to be smuggled into the country. Once they arrived, the women were expected to work as prostitutes, with a portion of their earnings going to repay their smuggling debts. As part of the scheme, some of the women were allegedly transported to Northern California, Colorado, and Texas to work as prostitutes.

During last month’s enforcement operation, ICE took 46 undocumented Korean women into custody who were working at brothels. The women have all been designated as material witnesses and will remain in the United States until the prosecution of the case is completed.

The search warrants executed by federal agents last month in connection with the case targeted 28 locations across the greater Los Angeles area. The sites included suspected brothels and so-called human smuggling “drop houses.” The brothels themselves were housed in a variety of businesses, including chiropractic offices, acupuncture clinics, spas, and massage parlors. So far, authorities have seized more than $1.8 million in the investigation, including cash and checks recovered at the businesses and residences, as well as bank accounts.

You can all thank me later for all of the cheap-ass double ententres I passed up when I posted this, and accept my advance apologies for publishing two stories of Koreans committing crimes in America in one day. I don’t know any Americans who doubt that the vast majority of Korean visitors are law-abiding, to say nothing of Korean-Americans who tend to be highly productive citizens.

It would be nice to see the same kind of context in the Korean press when a few Americans make asses of themselves in Korea.

What’s more, prostitution is one of those issues where I’m with the libertarians. I’m just really not bothered by the idea of single people selling or buying sex under circumstances where the risks are known, accepted, and minimized. Of course, these aren’t those circumstances, but that’s mainly a function of law.