One of the arrested brokers, a minister identified by his family name Koh, ran an internet site for arranging organ transplant tours to China by which he collected several million won per person from patients desperate for the transplants, the police said. Five others who collaborated with Koh were booked without detention.

It was uncovered that Koh and his collaborators earned W120 million (US$120,000) from 28 liver cancer patients. These patients paid between W39 and W53 million for the operations along with W10 million for “purchasing” livers that were harvested from Chinese people, the police said.

Among those patients who received transplant operations in China, six died during or after the operations, a policeman said. These terminally ill patients with liver cancer have chosen to go to China for organ transplants due to the scarcity of viable liver donors in Korea, but the problem is that they end up suffering from complications caused by the ill-equipped medical facilities in China, he added. The police are planning to expand their investigation to root out more organ transplant sites on the Internet.

(englishnews@chosun.com )