section_path: Discovery of human rights abuses/Investigations
section_name: Investigations
paragraph_text: Investigations
  
  In August 1982, a man with the surname Kang submitted a petition asking the government and police to investigate his brother's mistreatment while held at Brothers Home. The case was handled by the Busan Bukbu Police Station, which arranged a meeting between Kang and Park In-geun, who had been the director of the center since 1977. Park took legal action against Kang for false accusation, and Kang was sentenced to eight months in prison on December 23, 1982.: 7
  
  In December 1986, Kim Yong-won, a prosecutor from the District Prosecutors' Office of Ulsan, set out on an investigation after hearing rumors from a local hunter that a group of laborers were logging in a nearby mountain while being assaulted by guards armed with clubs. Kim discovered that the workshop, which was located on a mountain in Ulju County, Ulsan, was operating under orders from Park In-guen, director of Brothers Home. Kim reckoned that Park was subjecting inmates brought from Brothers to forced labor, and launched a full-scale search and seizure investigation into the workshop and the center's main facility in Busan, on January 16, 1987. The investigation, which included interviews of more than 100 inmates, guards, and executives of the center, concluded that the center's inmates, most of whom were of sound mind, had been involuntarily transported to and detained by the center, where they were subjected to forced, unpaid labor. A bank receipt indicating a deposit of 2 billion won (approx. $10.6 million in 2025 USD) was also found in a safe in the director's office.
  
  Following the investigation by the Prosecution Service, National Assembly members of the New Korean Democratic Party subsequently conducted an independent investigation into Brothers. The party published its first report on the investigation on February 4, 1987.: 45 It concluded that, of the 3,975 inmates who were present at the center in 1986, 3,117 had been brought in by police, and 258 by county officials.
  
  From 2022 to 2024, the South Korean Truth and Reconciliation Commission conducted a series of three investigations into the incident.
  
  In August 1982, a man with the surname Kang submitted a petition asking the government and police to investigate his brother's mistreatment while held at Brothers Home. The case was handled by the Busan Bukbu Police Station, which arranged a meeting between Kang and Park In-geun, who had been the director of the center since 1977. Park took legal action against Kang for false accusation, and Kang was sentenced to eight months in prison on December 23, 1982.: 7
  
  In December 1986, Kim Yong-won, a prosecutor from the District Prosecutors' Office of Ulsan, set out on an investigation after hearing rumors from a local hunter that a group of laborers were logging in a nearby mountain while being assaulted by guards armed with clubs. Kim discovered that the workshop, which was located on a mountain in Ulju County, Ulsan, was operating under orders from Park In-guen, director of Brothers Home. Kim reckoned that Park was subjecting inmates brought from Brothers to forced labor, and launched a full-scale search and seizure investigation into the workshop and the center's main facility in Busan, on January 16, 1987. The investigation, which included interviews of more than 100 inmates, guards, and executives of the center, concluded that the center's inmates, most of whom were of sound mind, had been involuntarily transported to and detained by the center, where they were subjected to forced, unpaid labor. A bank receipt indicating a deposit of 2 billion won (approx. $10.6 million in 2025 USD) was also found in a safe in the director's office.
  
  Following the investigation by the Prosecution Service, National Assembly members of the New Korean Democratic Party subsequently conducted an independent investigation into Brothers. The party published its first report on the investigation on February 4, 1987.: 45 It concluded that, of the 3,975 inmates who were present at the center in 1986, 3,117 had been brought in by police, and 258 by county officials.
  
  From 2022 to 2024, the South Korean Truth and Reconciliation Commission conducted a series of three investigations into the incident.