Brothers Home

Jul 16, 2025 04:39 am

OVERVIEW

Date of Occurrence: March 22, 1987 (primary exposure; abuses spanned from 1960 to 1992)
Location: 18 San, Jure-dong, Buk-gu, Busan Metropolitan City, South Korea
Categories: Kidnapping, forced labor, human trafficking, concentration camp-like conditions, human rights violations
Casualties:

At least 531 deaths (claimed by facility director Park In-geun)
657 deaths (confirmed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, August 2022)

The Brothers Welfare Center incident is one of South Korea’s darkest human rights atrocities, where over 3,000 innocent civilians were forcibly detained, subjected to forced labor, assaulted, and murdered under the guise of a homeless rehabilitation program. Operating from July 20, 1960, to August 20, 1992, the facility, originally established as a shelter, became a site of systemic violence and exploitation, enabled by government policies and corruption.

Background and Causes

The incident was driven by:

Park In-geun’s Financial Motives: The director of Brothers Welfare Center, Park In-geun, embezzled government subsidies and exploited inmates for personal gain, amassing wealth to purchase luxury properties and fund personal ventures.
Government Policy: The Park Chung-hee regime’s Ministry of the Interior Ordinance No. 410 (1975) mandated aggressive crackdowns on vagrants, enabling arbitrary arrests of civilians, including children, without due process.
Systemic Corruption: Collusion between Busan city officials, police, and medical personnel facilitated kidnappings, falsified records, and covered up abuses.

The facility, initially the Gamman-dong Brothers Orphanage in 1960, transitioned into a homeless shelter under Park In-geun’s leadership in 1962. By 1975, it relocated to Jure-dong and expanded into a sprawling complex that operated as a de facto concentration camp, with military-style management, barbed wire, guard dogs, and constant surveillance.

Nature of Abuses

Forced Confinement: Approximately 70% of the 3,975 inmates (as of 1986) were civilians, including children, kidnapped by police or facility staff. Victims were often seized from public spaces like Busan Station or even their homes.
Forced Labor: Inmates, including children under 10, were subjected to grueling labor for up to 10 hours daily. Resistance was met with daily beatings, and some were killed or abandoned.
Sexual Violence: Young women, children, and some men endured sexual assault alongside physical abuse.
Medical Neglect and Exploitation: Malnutrition, inadequate housing, and lack of medical care led to numerous deaths. Bodies were secretly buried or sold to medical schools for dissection (priced at 3–5 million won).
Psychological Manipulation: A branch school within the facility indoctrinated children with propaganda praising Park In-geun, while tranquilizers were overused in the affiliated mental hospital, addicting victims.

Scale and Impact

The Brothers Welfare Center became infamous for its scale, with over 3,000 detainees and at least 657 confirmed deaths. The facility’s abuses were not limited to the 1975–1987 period but extended from the 1960s, with similar state-backed camps like Deokseongwon and Seongam Academy operating concurrently. The Chun Doo-hwan regime’s crackdowns intensified before the 1986 Seoul Asian Games and 1988 Seoul Olympics, targeting the homeless and disabled to “cleanse” society.

Survivors, like 12-year-old Park Hyung-dae, recounted being abducted despite providing family details, enduring assault, forced labor, and sexual violence. Escapes were nearly impossible due to complicity from Busan authorities, who recaptured fugitives.

Institutional Complicity

The incident was not merely the work of Park In-geun but a collaborative effort involving:

Busan Authorities: The police and city officials actively participated in kidnappings and ignored complaints, with one Buk-gu Office assistant manager overseeing the facility without expertise.
Medical Collusion: Doctors forged autopsy reports, and non-specialists conducted autopsies, masking true causes of death.
Government Oversight Failure: Weekly police patrols mandated by the Ministry of Home Affairs were ignored, and investigations were suppressed, notably by Busan Mayor Kim Joo-ho and Deputy Chief Prosecutor Song Jong.

Aftermath and Accountability

The truth emerged on March 22, 1987, after one inmate’s death and a mass escape of 35 others. Park In-geun and four managers were indicted for special confinement but not murder, and they were released after two years under Chun Doo-hwan’s orders to prevent anti-government protests. Park, who received awards like the Order of Civil Merit (1981, 1984), died in 2016 with dementia, evading full accountability.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 2022 investigation confirmed 657 deaths and highlighted the state’s role. Survivors’ testimonies, documented in works like Surviving Brothers, exposed the scale of the tragedy, drawing comparisons to North Korea’s political prison camps or the Soviet Gulag.

Cora

Jul 16, 2025 04:40 am

Legal Proceedings

The Brothers Welfare Center incident came to light in 1986 when Kim Yong-won, chief prosecutor of the Ulsan Branch of the Busan District Prosecutors' Office, discovered evidence of abuses during a hunting trip. After obtaining a search and seizure warrant, he documented the facility’s corruption and human rights violations.

Arrests and Charges

On January 17, 1987, five individuals were arrested at Ulsan Southern Police Station:

Park In-geun (Director)
Kim Don-yeong (General Affairs Manager)
Joo Yeong-un (Office Manager)
Seong Tae-eun (Ranch Dispatch Leader)
Lim Chae-heum (Ranch Dispatch Platoon Leader)

They faced charges of:

Embezzlement
Special confinement
Violation of the Foreign Currency Management Act
Grassland Law violations
Building code violations

Despite the severity of the crimes, charges for assault, murder, corpse abandonment, and corpse trafficking were not pursued. During detention, Park In-geun received preferential treatment, including 32 outings without handcuffs for personal activities, facilitated by Sergeant Song, who was later dismissed after media exposure. In February 1987, the National Association of Homeless Facilities controversially elected Park as chairman, retracting the decision due to public backlash.

Trials and Sentences

The Chun Doo-hwan regime, implicated in the incident through its 1975 Ministry of Home Affairs Ordinance No. 410, sought to suppress the case to avoid fueling anti-government sentiment during the turbulent period following the 1987 Park Jong-cheol torture death and June Struggle. The prosecution initially sought a 15-year sentence and a 681.78 million won fine for Park In-geun, with 3–7 years for accomplices. However, sentences were progressively reduced:

June 23, 1987: Ulsan Branch of Busan District Court sentenced Park to 10 years and a 681.78 million won fine (Case: 87gohap33).
November 1987: Daegu High Court acquitted Park of confinement charges, reducing his sentence to 4 years (Case: 87no1048).
March 8, 1988: Supreme Court overturned and remanded the case (Case: 87do2671).
July 7, 1988: Daegu High Court sentenced Park to 3 years (Case: 88No144).
March 15, 1989: Daegu High Court reduced the sentence to 2 years and 6 months, waiving the fine (Case: 88No593).
July 11, 1989: Supreme Court dismissed the prosecution’s appeal (Case: 89Do698), finalizing Park’s release.

The lack of prosecution for murder and other severe crimes, combined with reduced sentences, reflected government efforts to minimize the scandal. Chun Doo-hwan reportedly praised Park, stating, “Thanks to people like Director Park, there are no beggars on the streets,” highlighting the regime’s complicity.

Later Legal Efforts

On November 20, 2018, Prosecutor General Moon Moo-il requested an extraordinary appeal to revisit the case, but the not guilty verdicts could not be overturned due to limitations in the extraordinary appeal system, distinct from a retrial.

AFTERMATH

Policy Changes

Following public outcry, the Ministry of the Interior abolished Ordinance No. 410 on February 16, 1987, transferring homeless affairs to the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs. New regulations (Ordinance No. 523, April 6, 1987) aimed to improve facility operations, admission procedures, and job guidance. Busan Metropolitan City replaced the facility’s board, including Park In-geun, with government-appointed directors and transferred inmates to other facilities.

Facility Transformation

In 1988, the foundation was renamed “Jaeyukwon.” Park In-geun regained control in 1991, establishing “Siloam House,” a nursing facility for the severely disabled. By 1995, much of the original land was sold to Daewang Construction, leading to the development of Jurye Hanil U&I and Bandobora apartment complexes. During construction, 40–50 unclaimed remains were discovered and placed in ossuaries, with approximately 400 bodies still unaccounted for. The Ulju facility, linked to forced labor, was sold in 2001 and 2003, eventually hosting apartments and an elementary school. In 2017, an agricultural cooperative purchased part of the land for 8.5 billion won, prompting a 2021 corruption complaint by the Ulsan Citizens’ Coalition, which was dismissed by police and prosecutors.

Victim Struggles

Many survivors faced challenges reintegrating into society, with some turning to crime or suffering long-term trauma. Families were often separated, as exemplified by survivor Han Jong-seon, who reunited with his father and sister in a psychiatric hospital years later.

ADVOCACY AND PROTESTS

Han Jong-seon’s Protest (2012)

In 2012, survivor Han Jong-seon, forcibly interned at age 9 in 1984, staged a one-man protest in front of the National Assembly to demand justice. His book, The Child Who Survived (co-authored with Jeon Gyu-chan and Park Rae-gun), documented his experiences, including his family’s abduction and suffering. Han stated, “It is easy to go from a human to an animal… but going back completely from an animal to a human is very difficult.”

Choi Seung-woo’s Protest (2019–2020)

Choi Seung-woo, detained for nearly 5 years from 1982, conducted a 24-day hunger strike in 2019 and a high-altitude sit-in at the National Assembly Members’ Building in May 2020. His actions, supported by Representative Kim Moo-sung’s mediation, contributed to the May 20, 2020, passage of the amended Framework Act on Past History Settlement for Truth and Reconciliation, enabling further investigation into the incident.

Park In-geun’s Defense

Park In-geun, the director of Brothers Welfare Center, consistently denied accountability for the human rights abuses, claiming in a 2004 interview with Christian Newspaper and Church Gospel Newspaper that he operated the facility with “good conscience” and was a victim of “jealousy and slander.” He portrayed himself as compelled to comply with state directives, specifically the Ministry of Home Affairs Ordinance No. 410, and sued prosecutor Kim Yong-won for defamation, alleging misrepresentation of forced labor conditions. Park insisted he personally funded inmate care, despite evidence of embezzling government subsidies and amassing wealth, including 33 land plots, condominiums, golf memberships, and foreign currency reserves. He displayed no remorse, proudly showcasing photos of the 1983 facility and exploited inmates at Siloam House, suggesting nostalgia for the power and wealth gained through the abuses. His claims were widely criticized as distortions, given the severe trauma inflicted on survivors, many of whom faced poverty, mental health issues, and social exclusion after enduring violence and forced labor.

Continuation into the 21st Century

After his release from prison in 1989, Park In-geun resumed control of the facility’s operations, rebranding it multiple times to obscure its past:

1991: Established Siloam House, a nursing home for the severely disabled, and renamed the foundation Job’s Village.
2002: Changed the name to Brothers Welfare Support Foundation.
2014: Renamed it Nehemiah.

Park expanded his operations, acquiring a sports center in Jangrim-dong (2002) and a seawater hot spring building in Gwaebeop-dong (2004). In 2001, the Jurye-dong land was sold, facilitating the relocation of Siloam House to Gijang-gun. His family, dubbed “welfare conglomerates” by media, amassed significant wealth through government subsidies, with 99% of their welfare project funds reportedly coming from public money (Sisa Journal, May 2014). Park’s third son, Park Cheon-gwang, managed Siloam House, while other family members operated related ventures, including an unlicensed religious institution within the facility, which invited public officials as lecturers, leading to a lightly disciplined audit by Busan City.

Financial Irregularities

Park’s financial dealings included:

Depositing 2 billion won from the 2001 Jurye-dong land sale into Busan Savings Bank, fostering ties with Vice Chairman Kim Yang.
Illegally borrowing 11.8 billion won from savings banks between 2005 and 2009, as revealed in a state audit.
Acquiring Jobstown, an Australian golf course, in 1995, managed by his wife, daughter, and son-in-law, allegedly for asset laundering (SBS I Want to Know That, March 21, 2015; Hankyoreh).

Conditions at Siloam House

A 2013 Human Rights Oreum investigation revealed conditions at Siloam House reminiscent of the original Brothers Welfare Center:

Residents wore uniform clothing and had short, identical haircuts.
Those with severe disabilities ate alone in locked rooms, some tied to beds to prevent self-harm.
Meals were poor, consisting of minimal side dishes, contributing to malnourishment.
CCTV monitors in the office suggested ongoing surveillance, mirroring past practices.
The third floor housed an unauthorized church, violating public facility regulations.
Residents expressed desires to leave, with two stating, “I want to go out and live!” (News Tapa).

Family and Foundation Developments

In 2011, Park In-geun transferred the foundation’s leadership to Park Cheon-gwang, who was sentenced to three years in prison in May 2014 for embezzling subsidies. Park In-geun suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in 2014 and died on June 27, 2016, in a South Jeolla Province nursing home. In 2014, the foundation was sold to Seo Jong-beom of Milsung Academy. Busan City attempted to liquidate it in 2016, but the foundation was already an “empty shell” with significant debts, rendering recovery of public funds unlikely. Residents were transferred to other facilities. Park’s family continued to thrive, with his youngest daughter and son-in-law running a mental hospital and his second son, a former Brothers Welfare Center manager, operating a bar, denying past abuses (JTBC Lee Kyu-yeon’s Spotlight, February 7, 2019).

Prosecution’s Extraordinary Appeal

On November 20, 2018, Prosecutor General Moon Moo-il filed an extraordinary appeal to the Supreme Court to address legal errors in Park In-geun’s not guilty verdict for special confinement. While double jeopardy prevented a guilty verdict, the appeal sought to acknowledge the crimes and state responsibility for violating victims’ “human dignity.” On March 11, 2021, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, upholding the not guilty verdict, citing Park’s adherence to Ministry of Home Affairs instructions. However, it recognized the state’s responsibility, potentially supporting future lawsuits against the state or Park’s family if a Special Act on the Support for Brothers is passed.

Overview of Compensation Rulings

The Brothers Welfare Center incident, marked by severe human rights abuses from 1975 to 1987, has led to multiple lawsuits against the South Korean government for its role in enabling the atrocities. Courts have increasingly recognized the state’s responsibility to compensate victims for violations of physical freedom and human dignity, resulting in significant rulings across Seoul and Busan.

Seoul High Court Ruling

Case Number: 2024na2004450
Court: Seoul High Court, 4th Civil Division
Ruling Date: December 2023 (first instance, appealed)
Details: The Seoul Central District Court initially ordered the state to pay 26 former detainees a total of 14.58 billion won (approximately 70% of the claimed 20.3 billion won), at a rate of 80 million won per year of detention. This was the first ruling acknowledging the state’s responsibility for compensating Brothers Welfare Center victims. The Ministry of Justice appealed the decision, and the case is currently under review at the Seoul High Court.
Status: Appeal ongoing as of July 16, 2025.

Seoul Central District Court Rulings

Case Numbers: 2021gahap1402, 2021gahap563146
Court: Seoul Central District Court, Civil Division 14 (Presiding Judge Seo Bo-min)
Ruling Date: January 2024
Details: The court ordered the state to pay 16 former detainees a total of 4.5 billion won (US$3.37 million), calculated at 80 million won per year of detention, plus additional compensation for psychological damage and side effects. This was the second ruling recognizing state responsibility for the human rights abuses at Brothers Welfare Center, including illegal detentions, forced labor, beatings, and sexual violence. The state and survivors appealed, and the ruling was upheld by the Seoul High Court and the Supreme Court in March 2025.
Status: Finalized by the Supreme Court in March 2025.

Busan District Court Rulings

First Ruling
- Case Number: 2022gahap48062
- Court: Busan District Court, Civil Division 11 (Presiding Judge Jeon Woo-seok)
- Ruling Date: February 7, 2024
- Details: The court ruled that the state and local governments must compensate victims for the human rights violations at Brothers Welfare Center, acknowledging their role in enabling the abuses through policies like the Ministry of Home Affairs Ordinance No. 410.
- Status: Concluded, with compensation ordered.
Second Ruling
- Case Number: 2024ga-dan323487
- Court: Busan District Court, Civil Division 7 (Presiding Judge Kim Yu-shin)
- Ruling Date: January 22, 2025
- Details: The court again recognized the state’s liability for damages caused by the abuses at Brothers Welfare Center, reinforcing the obligation to compensate victims for their suffering.
- Status: Concluded, with compensation ordered.

Context and Significance

These rulings mark a significant shift in acknowledging the South Korean government’s culpability in the Brothers Welfare Center abuses, driven by policies under the Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan regimes. The courts have cited violations of “physical freedom and human dignity,” with compensation calculated based on detention duration and lasting psychological impacts. The 2023 and 2024 rulings were pioneering, as they established legal precedent for state accountability in this case, with a total of 34 state reparations lawsuits filed by victims as of 2024.

The ongoing appeal in the Seoul High Court (2024na2004450) and the finalized rulings in Seoul and Busan reflect growing judicial recognition of the state’s role in enabling the facility’s atrocities, including the detention of approximately 38,000 people, many of whom were not vagrants but ordinary citizens, including minors. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 2022 findings, which confirmed 657 deaths and widespread abuses, have bolstered these legal efforts.