By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
A fortuneteller was apprehended on suspicion of forcing a woman to have sex with hundreds of men, police said Tuesday.
In 2002, the fortuneteller, identified as Kim, 33, told the victim, identified as Park, who was 20 years old at that time, that she must stay with her to drive out bad luck and directed her to borrow 2 million won ($1,300) from the fortuneteller's mother, a loan shark. Her debt snowballed to tens of millions of won due to exorbitant interest rates for only a couple of months. Since then she has been forced into prostitution.
Police said the fortuneteller and her family members reaped more than 1 billion won through the forced prostitution with about 500 male clients over the last five years.
Police last week confiscated a document containing 500 men's names and contact numbers from the fortuneteller. Police have been summoning them for questioning.
``The list, allegedly written by the victim, provides detailed information including names, dates, phone numbers and money she received for providing sex,'' a police officer said. ``It would be impossible for the men to deny their involvement in the illicit sex trade.''
Meanwhile, the victim will file a compensation suit against Kim. ``Even though the financial gains from prostitution are illegal, it was against her will,'' said Kwon Mee-hye, a lawyer dealing with the suit on the victim's behalf. ``We expect her to get back 1 billion won from the illegally collected funds.''
