Home > National > Social Affairs

Gold trafficking ring leader sentenced, fined 13.6 billion won

Published: 05 Jan. 2026, 09:30 Updated: 05 Jan. 2026, 19:24

[KOREA JOONGANG DAILY]

A man who coordinated a smuggling ring that trafficked 314 kilograms (693 pounds) of gold bars through Incheon International Airport was sentenced to prison and ordered to pay a fine of over 10 billion won ($6.9 million).

The Incheon District Court sentenced the individual to five years in prison and fined them 13.6 billion won for violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes related to taxation, according to the legal community on Sunday.

The court also ordered the forfeiture of 15.1 billion won.

The defendant was indicted for employing 32 carriers between September 2015 and January 2017 to smuggle 314 kilograms of gold, worth an estimated 14.6 billion won, from China into Incheon International Airport on 53 separate occasions.

The defendant was also indicted for smuggling 10 kilograms of gold worth approximately 500 million won to Japan through Incheon International Airport in May 2016, using 10 carriers.

Authorities found that the defendant instructed the carriers to conceal the gold in their rectums before boarding flights and paid them 600,000 won per successful delivery.

“The market value of the smuggled gold is substantial, and the defendant’s culpability is grave,” the court said. “After the customs investigation began, the defendant fled and remained in hiding for over eight years. The sentence reflects only the offenses for which the statute of limitations has not expired.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KIM EUN-BIN [[email protected]]