1. Foreigner Gangster's Activities

‘Current status of foreign gangsters in the nation’ that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) submitted to National Assembly in July 2009 said that more than 30 foreign gangsters were active in the nation. And, in October 2009, Seoul Shinmun reported that approximate 4,600 gangsters from 65 groups of 14 countries were active in the nation. But the material was found to make based on exaggeration and guess.
However, government organizations' release and mass media's report should not be neglected nor overlooked. When not only the government but also the people is absent-mined to neglect preparation, either exaggeration or guess can be realistic soon. When the number of foreign labor workers, marriage migrants, tourists and visitors, etc continues to increase in accordance with current trends, foreigner crimes are much likely to be serious soon.
Either the Chinese gangster or ethnic Korean gangster had already committed crimes from time to time by taking advantage of various kinds of relations and good command of the Korean language, for instance, monopoly of rights and interests and extortion of money concerning immigration and obtaining of licences of the Korean residents in China, forgery of passport and credit cards, smuggling of narcotics and drug, telephone fraud, smuggling of contraband, contract violence and others. The Chinese criminals are likely to expand their scope of activities at time elapse.
Foreigners having various kinds of nationalities live lives at the place where foreigners live in groups so that foreigner gangster groups combine each other to get either interests or to expand activity areas and to fight each other. Local gangsters sometimes pay money to ask foreigner gangsters to exercise violence or to kill or injure a person. Local gangsters are interested in the transaction with foreigner gangster groups because of avoidance of the police and inexpensive costs.

2. Types of Foreigner Gangster Crimes

The cases of foreigner gangster crimes in the nation are difficult to classify them by each type. However, the cases can be classified compulsorily. The university and research centers cognized needs of classification despite inherent limitation and set up optional standards with common sense as well as reasonableness to classify types of the crimes. Therefore, the study classified the crimes into three types that could be included in foreigner gangster crime from broad point of view:
Firstly, immigration crime occurs at foreigners' entry into Korea, illegal immigration and employment. The crime includes smuggling without formal procedure, forgery of passport and visa, forgery of foreigner identification and resident registration card to stay in the nation illegally and to extend immigration period, fake wedding to obtain the Korean nationality illegally and forgery of the application to obtain the Korean nationality and the one who entered Korea for tourism attempted to be employed illegally.
Secondly, foreigners in Korea commit crime legally or illegally while living lives. This type of crime of the foreigners includes burglary, robbery and rape that the Koreans commit. As concept of those crimes indicate, so the crimes have broad scope and various kinds of types. The crime may include illegal immigration related crime that foreigners may commit because of unstable status of illegal immigrant, retaliation because of non-payment of wages and salaries, property crimes for survival and medical services without license, etc.
Thirdly, the purpose of the crime is to enter Korea and commit crime. Criminals enter Korea to commit special crime. These days, foreign gangster member investigate and practice carefully in advance crime methods as well as escape methods to foreign countries after committing crime so called ‘hit and run’. The foreign gangsters may have relations with local gangsters and can expand scope of the crime up to forgery and drug, exchange speculation, illegal money laundry and other intelligent crimes. Opening of the government is much likely to increase similar type of crimes.

3. Features of Foreign Gangsters' Crimes

A) Development of Crime Techniques

The abnormal foreign exchange criminals generally open Internet website in China, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, etc to employ staffs in each country, and recruit the ones who want to transfer money to the students studying abroad and Korean residents abroad, and collect commission each case from them. Some of abnormal foreign exchange criminals establish overseas corporation and open both foreign currency accounts and local currency accounts at local bank to avoid the police's detection that differs from conventional type of bi-directional paying of abnormal foreign exchange, and it opens bank accounts of both local currency and foreign currency at local bank to transfer money through Internet banking at overseas and to be intelligent and careful and cautious. These days, abnormal foreign exchange criminals have been developed to consist of family that includes a foreigner in Korea and his or her relatives at home and abroad, and they deeply enter university bookstore, home and the society at economic stagnation and uneasy foreign exchange market. And, demand on abnormal foreign exchange crime is increasing because foreign exchange transaction is needed in accordance with studying abroad of the Korean residents and foreigners, employment, international marriage and immigrants, etc. The abnormal foreign exchange criminals consisting of relatives illegally transfer money through sisters, young brothers and sisters, brothers in law and others in Korea, and they collect commission. Not only illegal foreigners having same nationality but also their relatives in home country cooperate each other to commit abnormal foreign exchange crime. The criminals borrow name of the ones whom they knew at the meeting of labor workers having same origin of the country, and they open bank accounts of abnormal foreign exchange and then let either business in their home country or foreign labor workers transfer money and let their relatives be paid in home countries and pay money to the one who shall be actually paid. Criminals often commit forgery of fake wedding, passport, certificate of foreigner registration and other certificates and illegal employment related crimes. At first, foreigners from China and South East Asia, etc make out fake marriage certificate to live lives in the nation. The foreigners ask brokers to prepare for fake marriage s by paying commission and to submit the s to government authority and to live lives illegally in the nation. The foreigners who live lives in the nation by fake wedding sometimes keep a liaison with foreign gangster groups.
The criminals are paid commission of fake wedding from the Vietnamese who attempted to be employed in Korea, and they forge certificate of the birth and family registry of the Vietnamese bride and help the Vietnamese job seekers enter Korea as if the Vietnamese is parent of the Vietnamese bride. The criminals were found to open an office in Vietnam to play roles in each country, that is to say, Vietnamese broker in Vietnam, and Korean broker in Korea. In the case, the criminals made use of situation that either women or middle aged persons had difficulties at entering Korea with job visa, and they sent Vietnamese middle aged men to factories and rural areas in the nation including Busan and Jeonju, etc to be employed. Some of the Vietnamese girls who got married with fake wedding worked for ethnic bars at the areas where foreign workers lived lives, and did prostitution.

B) Crime Occurrence Places

Foreign worker residence is being made at national industrial complex, etc where foreigner crime is increasing accordingly. Seventeen places have more than 10,000 foreigner residents, for instance, Guro, Yeongdeungpo, Yongsan, Gwanak, Keumcheon, etc at Seoul, and Siheung, Hwaseong, Pyeongtaek, Ansan in Gyeonggi-do, and Namdong and Seo-gu at Incheon. Twenty one police stations that were 80 percent of twenty six police stations that controlled places having more than 5,000 foreigners recorded the highest suspect arrest rate. In other words, most of foreigner crimes occurred at the places where foreigners were crowded.
The violence crimes occurred mainly at the places where foreigners were crowded. Last several years, foreigner crimes have developed from accidental and one-man crime to an organized crime. The foreigners who entered Korea with either short-term visa or tourism visa to live lives illegally. When the police strengthens supervision and arrest, the foreigners sometimes join gangsters to avoid detection and arrest. The police's arrest of illegal foreigners made the foreigners commit crimes in organized way because they lost their bases.
Foreigner gangsters make use of disadvantages of illegal aliens who have difficulties at reporting of damages and losses because of compulsory expulsion. Illegal aliens are not likely to commit other crimes than illegal immigration because of unstable identification, but they are much likely to commit either violence crimes with retaliation or property related crimes.
Foreign gangsters of illegal immigrants who enter Korea with tourism visa help illegal immigrants be employed and are paid commission, and they are paid commission for transfer of foreign currency, and they deprive foreign aliens of money and property by threatening and menace.

C) Types of the Crimes

Foreigners diversify crimes in accordance with increase of violence crimes and intellectual crimes and others. Illegal aliens have forged passport, identification cards and other to be free from ‘illegal immigrants’, and they have committed other crimes. The arrested foreign criminals committed crimes: Murder, robbery, rape and so on remained unchanged comparing with previous years, while intellectual crimes increased remarkably. The foreigner intellectual crimes increased, for instance, forgery of passport, etc for the purposes of employment, economic advantages, illegal immigration and so on, and forgery of US dollars and credit cards, etc.
Foreigner crimes have been diversified based on either self-generated gangsters or international gangsters who enter Korea for the purpose of crimes. The gambling gangsters have divided roles, for instance, search for gambling places, liaison, control of visitors and guests and others, and they sometimes make use of church at the places where foreigners are crowded. They rented places with less suspect and put CCTV at the entrance to allow visitors to enter gambling site after inspection, and two to three persons watched nearby to move in an organized way and to make change of gambling places from time to time. They illegally confined and committed violence against illegal immigrant who could not pay back after borrowing money, and asked him or her to get in touch with family members in home country to pay back.

D) Self-generated multi-national gangsters

Being different from ‘foreigner gangster’ that persons having same nationality organized, ‘multiple nationality gangsters’ that had networks in many countries were detected. Foreigner violence gangsters, drug trafficking, gambling, etc for which foreigners from two or more countries worked were arrested. Illegal immigrant gangsters having multiple nationality exercised violence and deprived illegal immigrant having same nationality at the place where foreigner were crowded.

The Russians and the Africans smuggled drug from Russia and Africa each, and the Chinese and the Japanese did from China and Japan each, and foreigners residing in Korea sold drug either in Korea or to their home countries.
The Nigerian gangsters who did prostitution of Russian girls at Itaewon employed a Russian to recruit girls in Russia, and the Chinese gangster employed a Cambodian to expand gambling places for the Cambodian.

E) Connection with Local Gangsters

The Japanese gangsters enter South East Asia, the United States, Australia, etc by using plenty of money to speculate real estate and to set up fake branch at overseas and make international organization. In particular, considerable number of the Japanese Yakuza members enter Korea to enjoy tourism and to have meeting of members, and leader class Yakuza who is Korean resident in Japan continuously make efforts to connect violence team in local to build up local base by using relations in Korea.
The Japanese Yakuza leaders include many Korean residents in Japan who have relations with local violence gangsters for a long time by using ethnic identity as well as local relations. They can develop the relation to establish partnership when necessary that requires special monitor and inspection. Until the 1990s, not only local violence gangsters but also Yakuza had built up friendly relations by forming brotherly ties: In the 2000s, gangsters of both countries exercised violence under mutual cooperation to commit various kinds of crimes that differed from smuggling of drug in the past.

4. Countermeasure against Foreigner Gangsters

A) Police Activities at Foreigner Residential Areas

The policemen at foreigner residential area shall patrol and supervise to apply laws and regulations strictly and to produce atmosphere respecting of public power. The police may have difficulties at settlement of crimes when gangsters enter systems. The police is demanded to take active and powerful actions against foreigner gangsters at initial stage. The police shall inspect foreigner violence organization as well as invitation of members carefully to get information on background force and to take preventative actions to prevent gangster members from exercising violence.
The police shall inspect genealogy of foreigner gangsters and get detailed personal information of the members and detect them to prevent them from exercising violence. The police shall get information on foreigner gangsters who once were active or are currently active, and it shall also collect information on foreigner gangsters who have relations in local. In particular, the police shall inspect information of drug crime and voice fishing and others carefully that gangsters are much likely to be involved, and shall cooperate actively between countries. The police shall recruit policemen who can inspect foreigner crimes.

B) Control of Drug Traffic and Smuggling

The Koreans are unable to overcome lure and temptation of the drug because of development of enjoyment culture, shortage of places where people can be free from stress and other environments. And, the drug is secretly sold out in organic way to let gangster involve in drug trafficking. Therefore, some of the press reports connection with gangsters when the police detects drug crimes. Frequent drug trafficking in the nation indicates possibility of involvement of foreigner gangsters.
By taking advantage of Korea that is nominated to be a country free from drug, drug gangsters make use of the Koreans so called ‘mule’ to let some of foreigner residents not be careful of the drug at all. The Thai people make use of drug named ‘Yaba’ commonly with no guilty feeling, and they bring it not for selling but for their own use. They sometimes addict drug to calm down either loneness or uneasiness in foreign country where they are apart from family members.
The police and other government authorities shall take powerful actions against drug that can be sold with less guilty feeling. Use of the drug can increase social costs to make people bear burden. Not only drug but also smuggling has relation with gangsters because they can make enormous profit to sell secretly despite risks.
In Korea, the police once detected drug trafficking having relations with foreigner gangsters, and it shall investigate background of drug trafficking carefully even if a smuggler attempted to bring drug alone. To control drug at foreigner residential district effectively, the police and associated government authorities shall cooperate each other to investigate and to ask drug criminals to surrender to the police by themselves with public relations.

C) Control System of Foreigners who enter Korea

The government shall clarify authority and responsibility of security and inspection at airport and harbor to improve security and inspection equipment and to educate security. Criminals are said to enter the nation not through international airport but through harbors where security and inspection are less strict: So, security of the harbor needs to be strengthened.
The second stage and third stage plans of finger print of the foreigner visitors are to be completed. The foreigner criminals need to take actions to block foreigner criminals who enter Korea illegally without normal immigration procedure at the airport. The foreigner criminal who enters and leaves Korea without problem may commit murder and violence by contract: The crime that cannot identify same person despite finger print on-the-spot can create problem at maintenance of peace and order in the nation.
On the other hand, US-VISIT program that makes use to inquire of information of the one who visits the United States has included photograph, date of the birth, name in full, nationality, boarding information, gender, finger print, passport number, relation with terrorism, crime experience, social security number and citizenship, etc.
When a member of foreigner gangsters commits crime in the nation, the police shall take measure to let him or her leave Korea and to control crimes. The police may apply the penalty to even minor crimes of foreigner gangsters to lessen crime opportunity according to mechanism of reasonable selection.

D) Cooperation between Government Authorities

In October 2009, the Prosecutor-General's Office organized ‘the Headquarters of Investigation into Foreigner Crimes’ that included officials of foreigner crimes and violence crimes of the Ministry of Justice, the National Police Agency, Customs Service and the immigration departments of the Ministry of Justice, and they intensively investigated and controlled various kinds of foreigner crimes as long as five months.
The government authorities investigated and controlled foreigner's organized crimes, and they were forced to take temporary actions during latent period because of characteristics of the crimes: So, continuous investigation and control against foreigner's organized crimes were needed. Therefore, government authorities including NIS, the Customs House shall cooperate each other and keep cooperative system. The government authorities shall cooperate with those of countries in China, Japan and South East Asia to build up cooperative system of the justice considering not only geopolitical situation of Korea but also political situation of North East Asia.
The joint investigation headquarters is likely to play an important role at removal of foreigners' organized crimes. The headquarters can be regularly used if situation is not permitted. The headquarters may investigate and control crimes either regularly or constantly to prevent foreigner gangsters from committing crimes in advance.

E) Investigation Team

A special investigation team that can collect information and evidence of foreigner's organized crimes and investigate the crimes shall take effective actions. The police may have difficulties at investigation of actual status and collection of evidence by common investigation technique, and it shall understand language and culture of each country to collect information from foreigners and to investigate effectively.
To prevent and control crimes effectively, the police shall make use of more investigators and information than gangsters do. The gangsters can often reconstruct organizations when they do lose organization completely: So, the police shall completely investigate crimes in appearance as well as hidden to destroy crime organization.
The investigation into foreigner gangsters may have a lot of difficulties and inconvenience because gangsters commit crimes secretly. The counteraction system below is likely to lessen difficulties greatly:
Firstly, investigation team based on wide areas shall be established to investigate substance of organized crimes for a long time and to collect evidence and to arrest criminals.
Secondly, investigators and their supporter can communicate with foreigner criminals and victims and cooperate with foreign polices and government authorities.
Thirdly, government authorities in the nation shall have meeting and IT system to share information of foreigner's organized crimes and to cooperate each other.
Fourthly, government authorities shall collect information on personal identity, finger prints and faces of foreigner immigrants and set up control system and enact laws and regulations in accordance with actual demand.
Fifthly, government authorities shall recruit interpreters and improve their treatment as well as working environment. The interpreters shall solve problems and inefficiency that are made because of poor communication with foreigner suspects, witness and victims, etc.

F) Behavior for Prevention of Losses and Damages

Either government authorities or banks shall remind people of the fact that they do not ask people over telephone to give private financial information and personal data in order to prevent people from suffering of losses and damages by voice fishing, and that they do not ask people over telephone to make use of ATM (automatic teller machine) and transfer money, and that people shall call either government authority or bank to confirm whether the request is true or not. And, either government authority or banks shall remind people of the fact that people shall keep emergency contact at overseas trip and with children studying abroad, and that people shall check over telephone the one who asks to transfer money through messenger. Either government authority or banks shall remind people of the fact that people shall not upload their or their family's telephone number and address and other private information on mini homepage, blog and other Internet media to prevent criminal from making use of the information for illegal purpose. They shall repeatedly remind people of the fact that people shall ask banks to suspend payment immediately after transferring money and shall inform government authority of such a fact (telephone number: 1379 for the National Policy Agency, and 1301 for Public Prosecutor's Office).