Joongi Han (born September 11, 1990 - died December 2016) was a Korean crime boss and the leader of the Jingweon Mafia's Japanese branch during the 2010s. Han oversaw a brief revival of the Jingweon in Japan, doing mercenary work for Tsuneo Iwami in exchange for being given enough money to buy up half of Kabukicho's nightlife venues by 2016. The Jingweon were also responsible for sparking the Saio-Tojo war and for Iwami's attempts to kidnap the infant Haruto Sawamura, which led to Han making enemies with his respected rival Kazuma Kiryu. After Kiryu defeated Han in Onomichi, Han attempted to clue Kiryu in on the "Secret of Onomichi", only to be assassinated by Toru Hirose before he could do so.
Biography[]
Han in 2016
Joongi Han was born in South Korea, and he grew up in a poor and neglected environment before joining the Jingweon Mafia. Following Jingweon tradition, he underwent plastic surgery and a personality change to imitate the legendary Jingweon boss Han Jungi, thus assuming control of Han's Jingweon branch in Japan. Han, hoping to abandon the Jingweon's "iron code" of "death before dishonor" and transform them into a money-making, pragmatic criminal enterprise, set about rebuilding the Jingweon in Tokyo. Han developed a reputation as a seductive and charismatic man who was popular with the women of Kabukicho, and he also based the Jingwoen's operations around the under-served female-centered sex industry. He also took Yeonsu Kim under his wing and groomed him to be the next "Joongi Han" incarnation.
To secure money for the expansion of the Jingweon, Han had his organization do mercenary work for Iwami Shipbuilding CEO Tsuneo Iwami, and he used this capital to buy up businesses in Tokyo's nightlife scene, including Club Stardust, which he transformed into an underground male strip club. In 2015, Tsuneo hired Han and his crew to assassinate the leader of the Saio Triad, Big Lo, and his son Jimmy Lo, and, while the Jingweon succeeded in killing Jimmy, Big Lo escaped and declared war on the Tojo. Tsuneo demanded that the Jingweon complete their mission properly if they wished to retain his patronage, forcing Han to seek desperate methods to locate and kill Lo.
In 2016, Saio defector and Stardust host Shu Tatsukawa approached Han and offered information that could be used to kill Lo, in exchange for Tsuneo's protection. Tatsukawa informed Han that Big Lo's second son Yuta Usami had fathered a son with Haruka Sawamura, and he proposed that he and Han kidnap the child and Haruka and use then to extort Yuta into killing Lo for them. Han witnessed Tatsukawa's failed kidnapping attempt on Haruka and Haruto Sawamura, believing that both of them had been killed in the hit-and-run. Not long after, Haruka's adoptive father Kazuma Kiryu came to Kabukicho to investigate Haruka's accident, and he attempted to access Stardust to find Tatsukawa. Han's bouncer turned Kiryu and his friends Tsuyoshi Nagumo and Yuta Usami away, but Han later found them at Yakiniku Kanrai and burned his bouncer's face against a yakiniku grill as punishment before inviting the yakuza to visit his club, where he would be willing to answer their questions about Tatsukawa.
At the club, Han showed them the secret underground, which he called the "Eden of Kabukicho,," and he proposed that he and Kiryu have a symbolic final battle between the Tojo-kai and the Jingweon to resolve their long-standing differences. Kiryu initially refused, with Yuta volunteering in his stead, and Han made short work of Yuta. Kiryu then stepped into the ring and defeated Han, who graciously accepted his defeat and told Kiryu of Tatsukawa's address, while also revealing his ties to the triad. As Kiryu left, he asked Han if it was true that the Jingweon had meddled in the Saio-Triad war, which Han denied. After Kiryu left, a lone Han dropped his facade of gracefulness and smashed a whiskey glass in anger.
Several days later, after Han learned of Haruto's survival of the car crash, he led several of his men on a mission to Onomichi to kidnap him and use him to extort Yuta into killing Lo. Han tracked him down to the Ryunan Shrine, where he was guarded by Kiryu and the Hirose-gumi. As Han's men attempted to capture the baby, Han faced off against Kiryu, but Kiryu defeated Han in a rematch. Shortly after, the Jingweon captured the baby, and Han joined them in fleeing to a cargo barge island off the coast. Kiryu and the Hirose-gumi gave chase, and Han called Kiryu and offered to return Haruto if Yuta used his blood relation to meet with Lo and kill him. Kiryu refused, instead offering a fight to the death with Han, to which Han agreed.
Han's body
Kiryu proceeded to meet Han in battle, and Han revealed the truth about the Jingweon's mercenary work for Tsuneo. He then said that the Jingweon could never move on with Kiryu alive, and they settled their quarrel in the ensuing brawl, with Kiryu defeating Han for a third time. A humbled Han admitted that the Jingweon was now at an end, and he said that Tsuneo would stop at nothing to kill Lo and uncover the "secret of Onomichi" to overthrow his father. When Kiryu asked about the secret, Han began to explain what he knew before Toru Hirose, hiding in the shadows, shot Han in the head and killed him.