Police charge suspect with $140,000 embezzlement
Seodaemun Police Station in western Seoul on June 13 requested an arrest warrant for "Mr. Baek," 39, former head of the Korean-Chinese Migrant Workers Center, for receiving about 100 million won (100,000 USD) for arranging fake marriages to ethnically Korean women residing in China. The police center charged another 35 persons in the case without detention. Police say Mr. Baek went to China to recruit 26 Korean-Chinese women who wanted to gain legal citizenship in Korea, receiving 10 million won for each woman with the promise of arranging marriages for them in Korea. Mr. Baek, however, did not follow through, instead embezzling 140 million won (about USD 140,000) of the funds, paying the rest to Korean men who agreed to register fake marriages with the authorities. Most of the men registered on the marriage certificates were found to be taxi drivers in the Daejeon area.In the meantime, the head of a similar center where Mr. Baek formerly worked in Ansan, Gyeonggi province, said, "Mr. Baek left here after working for the center as a voluntary worker about a year from July 2002. In some cases, Korean-Chinese laborers offer money to be a Korean citizen, and I suppose Mr. Baek could not resist the temptation."
