A member of a crime ring was positioned to serve as president of a student council at a university in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province and embezzled a total of 370 million won from student membership fees over a period of eight years.
Nine gangsters including their boss, surnamed Joo, have been arrested on charges of forming a criminal gang and physical assault, police said Thursday.
The 44-year-old gang leader entered the two-year college in 2004 and was elected as student council president. He then started embezzling funds from collected membership fees.
Even after graduation, he had other gangsters selected to be the council president by forcing rival candidates to withdraw from elections.
Joo used the embezzled money to provide gang members with legal help from lawyers and hold parties.
“Ordinary students and some professors knew they were gangsters but did nothing about it nor reported it to the police in fear of revenge attacks,” a police officer said.
Police are also investigating allegations that gangsters have gained control of student councils at other universities, he said.