The Korean restaurant Arirang has become the center of a sordid scandal after a Ukrainian woman charged its owner with rape.
Oleksandr Shepelev, the Ukrainian lawyer representing restaurateur Chong In Che, said Chong had been in Kyiv’s Lukyanivka prison since Feb. 18 on false accusations brought by a prostitute who was angry at not having been paid.
Chong, his wife and Shepelev also claim that Chong’s accuser, Kyiv resident Natalia Shatilo, first attempted to blackmail Chong out of $10,000 before going to the police.
Shatilo, however, says that Arirang employees have resorted to character assassination in an attempt to free their boss.
Shepelev and Arirang employees were initially reluctant to talk to the Post about the story, but decided to do so after it appeared that Chong might not be released before trial, which could mean months more spent in a notoriously overcrowded and miserable prison.
One of two women who told police that they witnessed the incident, Maria Shabal, confirmed Shatilo’s accusation in a telephone interview.
‘He [Chong] conducted himself awfully,’ Shabal said. ‘If they let him out, it will be bad. The guilty should not go unpunished.’
However, Shepelev and members of Chong’s staff, who declined to be named, said that Shatilo, Shabal and the second purported witness, Anna Repinska, were all prostitutes who regularly came to the restaurant as a group to find clients.
On the night of the alleged incident, Feb. 16, the management and staff of Arirang were celebrating Korean New Year.
According to Shepelev, Chong struck a celebratory deal with Shatilo, who offered amorous services to him for Hr 70. According to restaurant staff, they left for an adjoining room, where soon after a loud argument ensued.
‘They did not have sexual intercourse,’ Shepelev said. ‘She masturbated him, but he thought it didn’t merit the price.’
Shatilo was blunt: ‘I was screaming because I was being raped.’
According to Arirang manager Andry Umanets, ‘They didn’t have intercourse, but most likely something was going on.’
‘But it definitely wasn’t rape,’ he added. ‘Mr. Chong has an MBA degree, and he is not a violent criminal.’
The noise was overheard by both Arirang’s employees as well as Repinska and Shabal. According to Umanets, the three women left immediately afterward in a taxi.
Shepelev said that Chong had argued that the food and drink Arirang had furnished to Shatilo, Repinska and Shabal was sufficient payment.
Chong was arrested two days later. Following his arrest, Chong countered with his own accusation. By his account, Shatilo called him several times on Feb. 17 and demanded $10,000 from him.
Chong’s wife, Cho Jong Ju, told the Post that Shatilo also visited Arirang after his arrest and repeated a demand for $10,000, saying that she would withdraw her accusation if paid.
Shatilo said it was the Chongs and Arirang staff who blackmailed her.
‘They threatened that they would smear my name if I called the police,’ she said. ‘I’m a sales clerk. I have never been involved in prostitution.’
Shepelev claims that the investigating prosecutor in the case, Volodymyr Zvenihorodsky, ‘is too inexperienced to handle this case,’ and that he failed to produce any material evidence of wrongdoing.
Zvenihorodsky countered that lack of experience is the least of his problems.
‘I don’t have time to comment on this; we’ve got three corpses over the past four days in Moskovsky raion,’ he said before hanging up the phone.
Shepelev added that police did not mention any rape accusation when they arrested Chong along with three employees – two cooks and an administrator – on Feb. 18.
Shepelev said the police told the four men they had used ‘brutal language’ without specifying toward whom. Shepelev said none of the men arrested knew Ukrainian or Russian well enough to swear. The three employees were released the next day.
‘It’s a simple case of extortion, and he failed to find any expert findings – evidence of physical contact between the two – to support a rape charge,’ Shepelev said. Shabal, however, denied that any blackmail was involved.
‘Chong thinks he’s the king in his restaurant, and he treats his employees as if they were not even human,’ she said. ‘He thinks his money makes him above everybody else.’
Both Shabal and Shatilo said they were employed informally by Arirang as ‘wait staff’ and were working on the night of the incident. Arirang employees and Shepelev deny that any of the three women had ever worked for the restaurant.
Arirang has long been a favorite haunt of expatriate Korean businessmen, who would often unwind there after business deals, sharing the karaoke microphone until the late hours.
The staff of the restaurant do not deny that some of those executives would sometimes leave the restaurant escorted by young women they had met the same evening, but say the acquaintance business was not under the restaurant’s control and had never before interfered with business.
Umanets acknowledged there was a certain level of complicity on the Chong’s part in the acquaintance business, but denied any prostitutes were employed.
‘He didn’t exactly fire them,’ Umanets said. ‘He told them to leave because he didn’t want them picking up clients there anymore.’
The South Korean consulate has appealed for Chong’s release, and Shepelev expressed hope that his client would be released soon.
Shepelev said the prosecutor’s office was considering appointing a different investigator to Chong’s case. But he said the investigation was being drawn out by a lack of competent translators. The prosecutor’s office has appointed a translator, he said, but the translator is often unavailable.
‘On several occasions, I have to resort to speaking to my client through gestures,’ he said.
No representative of the Kyiv prosecutor’s office would give any additional comment.
