Squid Game and Korean Law (4) – Shall VIPs be punished in Korea?

VIPS are eye catching characters in Squid Game. You might not be impressed by their acting skills but I’d like to discuss their offences and punishments based on Korean laws in this post.

Shall they be punished under Korean Criminal Act? The answer is yes. The Article 2 of Criminal Act states that “this Act shall apply to both Korean nationals and aliens who commit crimes in the territory of the Republic of Korea”.

Source of the image : Netflix Official Site

Then what are their criminal offences?

First of all, they gambled on the players. They seem to have done in Korea every year with a huge amount of bet, so stronger punishments will be imposed to them.

Second, they aided and abetted murders of the workers and players.

Third, VIP 4 committed crimes against Junho. He intimidated him saying that he would kill him if he didn’t do what he wanted. He also attempted imitative rape. According to Criminal Act, imitative rape means “by means of violence or intimidation, inserting his/her sexual organ into another’s bodily part (excluding a genital organ), such as mouth or anus, or inserts his/her finger or other bodily part (excluding a genital organ) or any instrument into another’s genital organ or anus:”

If the police find them, VIPS will be arrested as their offences are serious, but even if they are not found, they cannot leave Korea as they are likely to be banned from leaving Korea. They will be able to go back to their country only after they are released from prison and they will be banned from entering Korea for a certain period of time or forever according to Immigration Act.

If they violated the laws of their countries, the authorities of the state may request the extradition of them to Korea but extradition shall not be grated if they are being tried, have been convicted or acquitted in the Republic of Korea in respect of the conducts for which extradition is requested. And if all or part of the offense for extradition has been committed in the territory of the Republic of Korea or if they are being proceeded against for an offense other than the extraditable offense in a court of the Republic of Korea, or they have been sentenced and have not completed their sentence nor been exempted from such sentence, extradition may be denied.