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3 clusters · 10 sources · 17 days · First seen · Last updated

Categories: CRIME

South Korea medical fraud crackdown

Entities: Korean Supreme Prosecutors' Office · Cheongdam‑dong clinic · Dr. B (Seoul physician) · Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency · Dr. A (Seoul physician)

Overview

In early July 2026, Seoul police seized five sites linked to the Jasaeng Korean Medicine Hospital and its parent foundation, accusing the network of filing fabricated insurance claims for traffic‑accident patients and extracting several hundred billion won from major auto insurers.

Later that month, investigators moved to a private Seoul clinic, arresting two physicians for repeatedly injecting patients with narcotics and anesthetics for profit and secretly filming them while sedated. The operation uncovered dozens of illegal injections, illicit revenue worth billions of won, and violations of privacy law, leading to the seizure of the clinic and the forwarding of 14 suspects to prosecutors.

In late July, prosecutors sought the confiscation of roughly 4.57 billion won generated by the scheme and pressed for severe penalties. The case also marked the first detection of illegal use of the sedative dexmedetomidine, prompting calls for health authorities to re‑classify the drug as a controlled narcotic. Both phases illustrate an expanding law‑enforcement drive against diverse forms of medical misconduct in South Korea, from insurance fraud in Korean‑medicine institutions to illegal drug use, privacy breaches, and emerging drug‑misuse issues in private practices.

Timeline

  1. about 22 hours ago

    [CRIME] 3 sources
    Seoul doctors sentenced for illegal propofol injections and secret patient recordings

    Seoul doctors illegally injected propofol at a Cheongdam‑dong clinic, charging 350,000 won per dose, secretly filmed sedated patients, and were arrested with 14 people charged, generating about 4.5 billion won.

  2. 3 days ago

    [CRIME] 9 sources
    Seoul doctors sentenced for illegal drug use and covert patient filming

    Two Seoul doctors illegally injected narcotics for profit and secretly filmed sedated patients, earning billions of won; they face drug‑law and illegal‑filming charges.

  3. 18 days ago

    [CRIME] 2 sources
    Seoul Police Raid Jasaeng Korean Medicine Hospital in Alleged Hundreds‑Billion Won Insurance Fraud

    Seoul police raided Jasaeng Korean Medicine Hospital over claims it falsified herbal prescriptions for traffic‑accident patients, allegedly defrauding insurers of hundreds of billions of won; four major auto‑c​

Sources

biz.heraldcorp.com · english.hani.co.kr · hani.co.kr · m.hani.co.kr · m.imaeil.com · news.donga.com · news.heraldcorp.com · niacouncil.org · seoul.co.kr · stv.seoul.co.kr

This summary has been updated 1 time: see revision history