Kkangpae: The Korean Gangster

After a brief gchat discussion with a friend about gangs in Korea, I decided to do a little research. The Korean gang scene is not something that I have given much thought before today, probably because Seoul is the safest place I have ever lived (Cape Cod included). The worst thing that could possibly happen to me is getting into a bar fight with another westerner, which I don't foresee in my immediate future. 

Anyway, I began my quest by searching 'Korean Gangs' on google. Nothing really exciting turned up. So I tried 'Korean Organized Crime.' This search eventually lead to the discovery of 'KKangpae,' the Korean word for 'Gangster.' A Wikipedia search revealed a brief history of Gang Life in Korea, but nothing too exciting. 

Organized crime is the name of the game in Korea. Street gangs have never had much of a presence, but the Korean mob had a fairly good run in the 1960s-80s. The Korean mob works pretty much like any other mob: specializing in extortion, prostitution, money laundering, kidnapping, sale of illegal goods, and owning nightclubs. In the 1990s, the Korean government decided to finally crack down on the K-mob and did a surprisingly thorough job. Now, the K-mob scene is fairly non-existent, especially in big cities such as Seoul and Busan, where most of the organized crime of earlier decades took place.  Surviving on the fringe of Korean society, the gangs work out of small cities now, where there is little threat of police interaction. 

Organized crime may be a dying force in the ROK, but apparently there is a large presence of Korean-American gangs in many US cities. According to Wikipedia, Los Angeles and New York have a significant amount of Korean-American organized crime rings and smaller street gangs. Other cities such as Chicago, Philly, Miami, Seattle, and even Dallas have seen a significant amount of Korean gang activity.

Wikipedia also notes that Korean-American gangs are unique in the fact that there is a very strict system of rank based on age. Also, binge drinking is an important method of bonding between Korean gang members. Interestingly enough, this is pretty much exactly how Korean businesses work too. I guess some cultural traits transcend both space and legality.