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| '''Prostitution in South Korea''' is an illegal industry. Despite this, a report issued by the Korean Institute of Criminology in 2003 indicated that 20% of men in their 20s pay for sex at least four times a month, <ref>'Korea's crackdown culture' by David Scofield of the Institute of Peace Studies, Kyung Hee University </ref> 358,000 visiting prostitutes daily. <ref>http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/03/14/MN19286.DTL</ref> The amount of money traded for prostitution was 4 trillion wom ($5.7 billion) in 1989, <ref>The entertainment industry and overconsumption. Report 13, Citizen's Self-Help Movement Series. Seoul: Seoul YMCA,1989a.</ref>, over 14 trillion won in 2002<ref name=kwdi/> and, according to The Korea Women's development Institute, estimated to amount to 14 trillion won ($13 billion) in 2007, roughly 1.6 percent of the nation's gross domestic product <ref name=kwdi> </ref>. | |||
| {{Totally-disputed|date=December 2007}} | |||
| {{Cleanup|date=December 2007}} | |||
| '''Prostitution in South Korea''' is an illegal industry. According to The Korea Women's development Institute, The sex trade in Korea was estimated to amount to 14 trillion won ($ 13 billion) in 2007, roughly 1.6 percent of the nation's gross domestic product.<ref name=kwdi> </ref> The number of prostitutes dropped by 18 percent to 269,000 during the same period. The sex trade involved some 94 million transactions in 2007, down from 170 million in 2002. The amount of money traded for prostitution was over 14 trillion won, much less than 24 trillion won in 2002.<ref name=kwdi/> | |||
| The Ministry of Gender and Family Equality estimates that it is around 4% of South Korea's GDP, with revenue exceeding $22 billion making it the country's fifth-largest industry and comparable to that of the agricultural and marine sectors. <ref> Kim, E. National Survey on Prostitution and its Economic Size. Seoul, Korean Institute of Criminology. 2002.</ref> The sex trade was said to involve some 94 million transactions in 2007, down from 170 million in 2002. A YMCA report states tax disclosure was between one quarter to one twenty-fifth of their real values. Women madams, are vital to the business. Women and children as young as 14 have been kidnapped by Korean gangs, raped and held captive as sex slaves. Korean-American gangs are involved in international sex trafficking.<ref>The Smuggling and Trafficking of Korean Women to the United States: A Preliminary Study by Prof. Timothy C. Lim, CSU, Los Angeles. IOM Seoul Public Symposium on Korean Victims of Trafficking, 2006</ref> | |||
| In |
In 2003, the Korean Institute of Criminology announced that 330,000, which takes 1 of 25 of Korean women over 20s in age may be engaged in sex industry. However, Korean Feminist Association alleged that at least 800,000 Korean women would participate in the prostitution industry.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://japanese.joins.com/article/article.php?aid=37708&servcode=400§code=400 |title=800,000 prostitutes in Korea(売買春産業の規模、少なくとも80万人)|publisher=] Japan |language=Japanese |date=2003-02-24 |accessdate=2008-08-29}}</ref> | ||
| In ], The Ministry for Gender Equality, in an attempt to address the issue of demand for prostitutes among, offered cash to companies whose male employees pledged not to pay for sex after office parties. The people responsible for this policy claimed that they want to put an end to a culture in which men get drunk at parties and go on to buy sex.<ref>{{cite news|title=S Koreans offered cash for no sex|publisher= BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6209549.stm |}}</ref> | |||
| Prostitution in South Korea has a long and varied history. Since WWII and the Korean War, it has developed on an "industrial scale", involving women from numerous countries, in which exploitation and abuse, and corruption within officialdom, are widespread. | |||
| ==Historical |
==Historical context== | ||
| With the end of the Japanese occupation in 1945, state-registered prostitution was made illegal by the governing United States authority in 1947, and the law was re-confirmed by the new ]n parliament in 1948{{Fact|date=February 2008}}. Nevertheless, prostitution flourished in the next decades as the law was not treated seriously. | |||
| Male <ref>Kim, Young-Ja (1981) The Korean Namsadang. Drama Review, 15, 9–16. </ref> and female Prostitution has been a component of Korean culture for literally thousands of years but according to Hyung-Ki Choi, Deputy Director, Korean Sexual Minority Culture and Rights Center in Seoul and Huso Yi in the Complete International Encyclopedia of Sexuality, "Korean women have been treated as second-class citizens regardless of their social and familial positions" and subjects of discrimination throughout Korean history. Because of the segregated roles of male and females within the Confucian society, women as professionals have been limited to performing particular public functions as shamans, folk healers and 'entertainers of men' called kisaeng or sadangp'ae acting as prostitutes. <ref>Putting P'ansori on the Stage by Pihl, Marhsal R. Korean Journal 1991</ref> | |||
| Almost without exception, these women were from lower and slave class families and social outcasts. Along with various arts, they also practised prostitution. <ref>Songs of the Kisaeng: Courtesan Poetry of the Last Korean Dynasty Translated by Constantine Contogenis & Wolhee Choe, 1997</ref><ref>International Encyclopedia of Sexuality, South Korea, The Kinsey Institute. Edited by Hyung-Ki Choi, M.D., Ph.D., and Huso Yi, Ph.D.</ref> and were later to became the foundation of male prostitution fantasies. According to Confucianism, woman is always placed lower than man. <ref>Woman’s Four Book by King Young-Jo</ref> The purity of family lineage, female virginity and sexual fidelity were and still are stressed, whereas men were and still are permitted access to prostitution and other forms of sexual explorations. | |||
| Korea culture has been very phallic oriented. Considered as sexually superior to females, sexual intercourse was not classically perceived as a mutual relationship but rather as a primitive release for the male. Korean sexual culture was created to satisfy strong and aggressive male sexual needs and was one in which women played a passive role. Hyung-Ki and Huso state that this concept entered into everyday sexual and marital relationships seriously distorting natural, intimate relationships between men and women due to sexual discrimination.<ref> Hyung-Ki Choi, M.D., Ph.D., and Huso Yi, Ph.D.</ref><ref>Chung-Hee Soh. 1998. Sexual customs in the Chosun Dynasty: The view of women and sexual culture. Seoul</ref> Academics have argued that the Korean government has a long history of using women and their sexuality for political ends. <ref>Prostitution and Slavery in Asia: Does the Market Set the Captives Free? by Kathleen M. Nadeau</ref> | |||
| As a Chinese vassal state for much of its history, Early Korean monarchs sent thousands of women as tribute to emperors in China called kongnyô <ref>The Sextants of Beijing, Global Currents in Chinese History by Joanna Waley-Cohen, 2000</ref><ref>Prostitution and Slavery in Asia: Does the Market Set the Captives Free? by Kathleen M. Nadeau</ref> and up until the Korean and Vietnam wars, prostitutes were provided by its military and rulers for its soldiers.<ref>http://www.thanhniennews.com/society/?catid=3&newsid=13820</ref> The Annuals of Chosen present a record of the anciet kings and their prostitutes. <ref>http://sillok.history.go.kr/main/main.jsp</ref> In Korea, there are even legends of concubines who sacrificed their chastity and lives for national well-being (see, for example, the story of the concubine of General Choe Kyonghoe, who seduced a Japanese commander during the invasion of Korea in 1592) | |||
| Noted American Presbyterian missionary and physician ], arriving two years after Korea was opened to the Western nations 1884 and instrumental in the lifting of the nation's anti-Christianity policy, documented in detail the existence, nature and problems of Korean prostitution in his papers and the existence of syphilis and gonorrhea spread by female performers, usually slaves, and the existence of male prostitutes.<ref>Things Korean: A Collection of Sketches and Anecdotes, Missionary and Diplomatic by Horace Newton Allen (1908)</ref> | |||
| Another early Presbyterian missionary of forty years experience, Archibald Campbell wrote, “In Korea. . . there was spiritual darkness until the gospel of Christ was brought in. Men sold their daughters, their sisters, and sometimes their wives into prostitution without a qualm of conscience." <ref>'History of the Korea Mission, Presbyterian Church U.S.A. 2 vols. Seoul: Chosen Mission 1934 (vol. 1); New York: Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations, UPCUSA, 1964 (vol. 2) by Rhodes, Harry A. and Archibald Campbell</ref><ref>The Seven Great “I Am’s” by Archibald Campbell</ref> | |||
| During Korea's colonialization by Japan, Korean women started entering Japan brothels soon after the 1905 Protectorate Treaty. Registration and the collection of taxes from them were used as policies to root prostitution and the spread of syphilis. <ref>Infectious Diseases and Medical Institutions in the Late Chosen Dynasty by Chang Duk Kee, Catholic University Medical College, Korea. Korean J Med Hist. 1995 Jun; 4(1): 1-10</ref> | |||
| The practise of impoverished families selling their daughters to become prostitutes through agents called continued up until at least World War II, as was the exploitation of women being misled about the true nature of the work they were being hired for. <ref>“The wife of Pak Won Sun of Chemulpo enticed a young girl from Song-do and kept her in a house of ill fame in Chemulpo. The girl was shocked when she found out the purpose of her betrayer, and made complaint to the Police Department. The Police arrested Park’s wife.” The Independent, Korea. 10/9/1896.</ref> | |||
| ==US and UN Military Camptowns== | |||
| After the end of the Japanese occupation in 1945, prostitution flourished in the following decades especially providing sexual services for American military forces called "camptowns", called “yangbuin” (western madam) or "yanggalbo" (western whore). They reached their maximum amount during the 1960s and helped bring in foreign currency to rebuild the Korean economy. 37,000 American troops remained in South Korea in 1953 and at each of the 99 bases were camptown brothels filled with over 27,000 women. In 40 years, over one million women worked in the military sex industry, roughly one prostitute for every two to three American soldiers at any time .<ref>Sturdevant, Sandra P., and Brenda Stoltzfus. 1992. Let the Good Times Roll: Prostitution and the U.S. Military in Asia. New York: The New Press.</ref> Many were tricked into becoming prostitutes. <ref> THE WOMEN OUTSIDE by Orinne Takagi and Hye Jung Park</ref> U.S. military presence in Korean played a major role in expanding its prostitution industry. <ref>The Transformation of Sexual Work in 20th Century Korea by John Lie. Gender & Society, Vol. 9, No. 3, 310-327, 1995.</ref> | |||
| According to Katharine Moon, a professor of political science at Wellesley College, "Camptown prostitution and related businesses on the Korean Peninsula contributed to nearly 25 percent of the Korean GNP. The Korean government supported the camptown brothels, hoping the industry would boost regional economies. Joong Ang Daily reported the claims of one such sex worker, Cheon Chang-suk, and reported that, "recent studies by scholars and nongovernmental agencies have suggested that the Korean government helped build and maintain the brothels after the Korean War". Several sources say that some of the original “]” used by the Japanese army were in turn used by U.S. troops following the defeat of Japan. <ref>The Problems Faced by Women and Children in Korean GI Towns by Kim, H.S. (1997) quoted in Modern-Day Comfort Women: The U.S. Military, Transnational Crime, and the Trafficking of Women by Donna M. Hughes, Katherine Y. Chon, Derek P. Ellerman Violence Against Women, Vol. 13, No. 9, 901-922 (2007) </ref> | |||
| In the same article, Professor Lee Na-young from Chung-Ang University found the Korean government "regularly ran medical checkups, and set up programs to regulate sexually transmitted diseases at the camptown brothels" forcibly isolated and locking up in jails infected women. The women were are forcibly checked every two weeks for venereal disease, and regularly for H.I.V. The professor noted that the Korean government changed the local Tourism Promotion Act in 1961 to register camptowns as "special tourist businesses”, granting them free tax benefits and implied that the Korean government benefited from profits made through military prostitutes. <ref>Former sex workers in fight for compensation October 30, 2008 - http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2896741</ref> | |||
| In some camptowns, women were kidnapped by criminal gangs and coercive procurement such as fraudulent promises of well-paid employment and skills-training were used. Rape was used as an initiation to sexual labor and debt slavery was used to hold women. The kijich'on system was heavily regulated and sustained by US Military and Korean government, licensed by the Korea Special Tourist Association.<ref>South Korean Movements against Militarized Sexual Labor by Katharine H. S. Moon. Asian Survey, Vol. 39, No. 2, (Mar. - Apr., 1999), pp. 310-327 </ref> The Korean government also colluded with the Korean police to run both “comfort stations” for U.N. soldiers and its own military's comfort system” during the Korean War. 78 in Busan. Non-registered brothels numbered several times. <ref>“The Korean War and Recruiting Gender and Sexuality (Hankuk Chonjaengkwa Yosongsong-songui Tongwon).” by Yi, Imha. Study of History 14:107-48. </ref> | |||
| Its army operated its own “military comfort system” during and after the Korean War <ref>'Globalization, Nation-State and Women’s Sexualities' by Kim, Eun-Shil. Women’s Studies Review 19: 29-46. Korean Women’s Institute, Ewha Womans University, 2002.</ref>, its regulation was not only due to concerns for soldiers’ health. It was to defend national security during the war against communism and as a “counter espionage policy”. <ref>Chosun Ilbo16 June, 1952)</ref> However, the Korean government also ran a brothel targetting high-ranking U.S. military to “pilfer U.S. military secrets” called the “Nangnang Club”. A "National Female Youth March" in 1953 (T’aehanysachngnnan ch’ongkwlgidaehoe) protested about the existence of 100,000 prostitutes and their effect on to Korean society. <ref>Dong-a Ilbo11 April, 1953</ref> | |||
| Camptown prostitution enabled South Korean to earn foreign currency without any start-up capital. In 1964, catering exclusively to American soldiers, they earned almost $10 million, when total exports were approximately $100 million. <ref>Han’guk Ilbo10 February 2004</ref> Just as the women in camptowns were congratulated as “personal ambassadors” and “patriots” earning dollars for the nation’s sake <ref>Sex Among Allies: Military Prostitution in U.S.- Korea Relations by Moon Katherine. Columbia University Press. 1997</ref> | |||
| Since 1998, it is estimated that between 5,000 to 15,000 female victims are trafficked to military camptowns in Korea each year. <ref>Sex Trafficking of Foreign Women to United States Military Camp Towns in South Korea, by Dr Sallie Yea (Senior Research Fellow, International Development Program, RMIT University) </ref> | |||
| ==Post-Korean War== | |||
| In the 1970s, tourism, including sex tourism in South Korea, generated a significant proportion of Korea’s total foreign exchange income. Its government mobilized women as “raw materials for national economic growth". <ref>Sex Tourism in Asia: A Reflection of Political and Economic Inequality by Kim, Elaine H. Korean Women in Transition: At Home and Abroad,eds. Yu Eui-Young & Earl H. Phillips, Center for Korean-American and Korea Studies, UCLA.</ref> In 1971, the Tourism Promotion Law was revised and 119 "special districts" were revived. <ref>Sex Tourism in Asia: A Reflection of Political and Economic Inequality by Kim, Elaine H. Korean Women in Transition: At Home and Abroad, editors Yu Eui-Young & Earl H. Phillips, 127-44. Center for Korean-American and Korea Studies, UCLA. </ref> | |||
| Japanese sex tourism in Korea was popular based around ] parties which resulted in protests from Christians and feminists. <ref>http://www.newint.org/issue245/sex.htm</ref> In the 1980s and early 90s, Korea was one of the most popular destinations for sex tourism. Fake barber's shops, steambaths and noraebangs (karaoke room) provided prostitutes at a cheap price. <ref>Sex Tourism and Hegemony, why is sex tourism not abolished and who profits from sex tourism? http://www.mskj.or.jp/getsurei/shimakawa0001.html</ref> In the 1980s, Korean women's groups publicized the conditions of kijich'on women (Korean military prostitutes at the US camps) as victims of debt and objects of foreign domination. In her paper, Professor Katherine Moon states that the experience and suffering of the kijich'on in Korean society was identical to the earlier chongsindae or comfort women. Many were forced to work as prostitutes to support impoverished families or the university fees of their siblings. <ref>Chungmoo Choi, "Korean Women in a Culture of Inequality". Korea Briefing, Westview Press, 1992</ref> | |||
| Dr Hei-Soo Shin, a leader of the Chongsindae Movement, noted in 1991 that "Korea's economic miracle developed in tandem with and partly owing to the sex industry in which Korean business and government encouraged male employees to indulge." <ref>Hei Soo Shin, "Women's Sexual Services and Economic Development: The Political Economy of the Entertainment Industry and South Korean Development" Rutgers University, 1991</ref> At that time, 1.2 million women were estimated to be involved in providing sexual services of various forms.<ref>Women’s Sexual Services and Economic Development: The Political Economy of the Entertainment Industry and South Korean Dependent Development by Shin, Hei Soo. 1991. Dissertation of PhD in Sociology Program, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.</ref> | |||
| ==Human trafficking== | ==Human trafficking== | ||
| {{seealso|Human rights in South Korea}} | {{seealso|Human rights in South Korea}} | ||
| South Korea is both a source and destination country for human trafficking |
South Korea is both a source and destination country for human trafficking; mainly Russian and Southeast Asian women are brought into the country for prostitution by Korean organized crime, many of whom are tricked into thinking they will have a legitimate job<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/article/0,13673,501020812-333899,00.html|title= Base Instincts|accessdate= |author= Donald Macintyre/Tongduchon |date= |publisher= TIME magazine }}</ref>. Many female migrant workers are recruited by Korean employment agencies to come to the country to work in factories. They are often later deceived and forced into prostitution <ref>{{cite web |url= http://peacemaking.co.kr/pds/view.php?code=e_pds&idxno=273&start=45&search=0&find=|title= Reality of Women Migrant Workers in South Korea|accessdate= |author= Lee Hyang Won|date= |year= |publisher= 평화만들기 ||language= |}}</ref>. | ||
| Though as recently as 2001 the |
Though as recently as 2001 the government received low marks on the issue, in recent years the government has made significant strides in its enforcement efforts.{{Fact|date=January 2008}} Human trafficking was outlawed and penalties for prostitution increased<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/FI25Dg05.html | title=Korea's 'crackdown culture' - now it's brothels |accessdate= |author= David Scofield |date=25|year=2004 |month= September |publisher= Asia Times|}}</ref>; the 2004 ''Act on the Prevention of the Sex Trade and Protection of its Victims'' was passed, toughening penalties for traffickers, ending deportation of victims, and establishing a number of shelters for victims. As of 2005 there were 144 people serving jail time for human trafficking. | ||
| However, despite the efforts to crackdown on the industry and human trafficking, the sex trade in Korea evolves around the new laws that come in to place, with new variations, such as ''bangseokjips'' (방석집), where prostitutes rent apartments in residential areas, and their clients continue to visit for sexual services. These Korean women and new forms of prostitution also get exported to the US.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rjkoehler.com/2006/09/25/dong-a-ilbo-talks-with-korean-prostitutes-in-the-united-states/ |title=Marmot's Hole |accessdate=2008-01-01|}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=하루면 ‘미국의 밤’ 물들여|url=http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LS2D&mid=sec&sid1=102&sid2=257&oid=020&aid=0000368647 |publisher= Naver News |accessdate=2008-01-01|language=Korean|}}</ref> | |||
| A US Immigration official conceded in 2006 that "There's a highly organized logistical network between Korea and the United States with recruiters, brokers, intermediaries, taxi drivers and madams".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/06/MNGR1LGUQ41.DTL |title=Sex Trafficking |publisher = ] }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?o=0&f=/c/a/2006/10/06/MNGR1LGUQ41.DTL |title="Sex Trafficking|format= Video |publisher = ] |author=Deanne Fitzmaurice |coauthors=Dan Jung |accessdate=2007-07-11|}} |
A US Immigration official conceded in 2006 that "There's a highly organized logistical network between Korea and the United States with recruiters, brokers, intermediaries, taxi drivers and madams".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/06/MNGR1LGUQ41.DTL |title=Sex Trafficking |publisher = ] }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?o=0&f=/c/a/2006/10/06/MNGR1LGUQ41.DTL |title="Sex Trafficking|format= Video |publisher = ] |author=Deanne Fitzmaurice |coauthors=Dan Jung |accessdate=2007-07-11|}}</ref> | ||
| In ] and ] of the United States, many Korean women were arrested for prostitution. ] said that Since 2006, 90% of prostitutes arrested every month in ] are Koreans.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://japanese.joins.com/article/article.php?aid=77026&servcode=400§code=400&p_no=&comment_gr=article_77026&pn=6&o= |title=8,000 Korean prostitutes in USA (韓国人女性８０００人、米国で‘遠征売春’)|publisher=] Japan |language=Japanese |date=2006-06-21 |accessdate=2008-07-30}}</ref> | In ] and ] of the United States, many Korean women were arrested for prostitution. ] said that Since 2006, 90% of prostitutes arrested every month in ] are Koreans.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://japanese.joins.com/article/article.php?aid=77026&servcode=400§code=400&p_no=&comment_gr=article_77026&pn=6&o= |title=8,000 Korean prostitutes in USA (韓国人女性８０００人、米国で‘遠征売春’)|publisher=] Japan |language=Japanese |date=2006-06-21 |accessdate=2008-07-30}}</ref> | ||
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| The US State Department 2008 report titled, "Trafficking in person's report: June 2008," states that in "March 2008, a joint operation between the AFP and DIAC broke up a syndicate in Sydney that allegedly trafficked South Korean women to a legal brothel and was earning more than $2.3 million a year. Police allege the syndicate recruited Korean women through deception about the conditions under which they would be employed, organized their entry into Australia under false pretenses, confiscated their travel documents, and forced them to work up to 20 hours a day in a legal Sydney brothel owned by the syndicate."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/105501.pdf |title=Trafficking in Person's report: June 2008. |publisher = ] }}</ref> | The US State Department 2008 report titled, "Trafficking in person's report: June 2008," states that in "March 2008, a joint operation between the AFP and DIAC broke up a syndicate in Sydney that allegedly trafficked South Korean women to a legal brothel and was earning more than $2.3 million a year. Police allege the syndicate recruited Korean women through deception about the conditions under which they would be employed, organized their entry into Australia under false pretenses, confiscated their travel documents, and forced them to work up to 20 hours a day in a legal Sydney brothel owned by the syndicate."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/105501.pdf |title=Trafficking in Person's report: June 2008. |publisher = ] }}</ref> | ||
| The report also states that "the South Korean government fully complies with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. Over the last year, the government continued law enforcement efforts against sex trafficking, and signed MOUs for the Employment Placement System (EPS) with five additional countries and conducted numerous anti-trafficking awareness campaigns. The Korean National Police Agency cooperated with foreign law enforcement agencies to crack down on human smuggling networks that have been known to traffic women for sexual exploitation. | The US State Department report also states that "the South Korean government fully complies with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. Over the last year, the government continued law enforcement efforts against sex trafficking, and signed MOUs for the Employment Placement System (EPS) with five additional countries and conducted numerous anti-trafficking awareness campaigns. The Korean National Police Agency cooperated with foreign law enforcement agencies to crack down on human smuggling networks that have been known to traffic women for sexual exploitation. However, these commendable efforts with respect for sex trafficking have not been matched by investigations, prosecutions, and convictions of labor trafficking occurring within South Korea’s large foreign labor force. Efforts to reduce demand for child sex tourism, in light of the scale of the problem, would be enhanced by law enforcement efforts to investigate Korean nationals who sexually exploit children abroad. South Korean men continue to be a significant source of demand for child sex tourism in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/105501.pdf |title=Trafficking in Person's report: June 2008. |publisher = ] }}</ref> | ||
| ==Modern Prostitution== | |||
| These efforts with respect for sex trafficking have not been matched by investigations, prosecutions, and convictions of labor trafficking occurring within South Korea’s large foreign labor force. Efforts to reduce demand for child sex tourism, in light of the scale of the problem, would be enhanced by law enforcement efforts to investigate Korean nationals who sexually exploit children abroad. South Korean men continue to be a significant source of demand for child sex tourism in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/105501.pdf |title=Trafficking in Person's report: June 2008. |publisher = ] }}</ref> | |||
| {{Unreferencedsection|date=August 2008}} | |||
| Today, while a number of prostitutes do work in brothels that do little to conceal their activity, most are believed to work in much more sophisticated settings, where sex might take place only at the discretion of the woman herself. A "room salon" or a "hostess bar" (referred to in Korean as "noraejujeom/danlanjujeom") is a venue where groups of middle-aged businessmen, usually using the company credit card, can drink with young hostesses. No sex takes place on the premises but negotiations for further services are often made elsewhere.{{Fact|date=December 2007}} While the hostesses very often engage in sexual activities with the customer, they can sometimes refuse sexual advances entirely. This seems to be especially true when the customer is of non-Korean ethnicity. | |||
| Massage parlors offering sexual services sometimes distinguish themselves from legitimate parlors by advertising with the word "]", sometimes quite openly with large neon signs. Following the enactment of the Special Law in 2004, there was a crackdown on red-light districts; while many of the brothels in those areas were forced to close, the crackdown came as quickly as it went, with the result that prostitution was driven more underground but also became a more competitive business with lower prices and more services{{Fact|date=January 2008}}. Well-known redlight districts are full of "glass houses", where girls wait for customers in small rooms with curtains. | |||
| In August 2002, US based Navy Times reported Senior Superintendent Kim Kang-ja, director of the Women and Juvenile Division of the Korean National Police Agency, state that all South Korean police and other officials concerned with prostitution were engaged in bribery and receiving sexual favors including group sex with minors.<ref>http://www.navytimes.com/legacy/new/0-292236-535181.php</ref><ref>http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/FE26Dg03.html</ref> Sex workers tell of being forced to perform sex for fear of suffering numerous violations including beatings, the withholding of payments, illegal confinement, forced labor, the over consumption of drink ratios, forced them to sexually serve police officers <ref>Hankyoreh Daily 12/2/2004</ref> and having their every move monitored. <ref>Sex and denial in South Korea by David Scofield, former lecturer at the Graduate Institute of Peace Studies, Kyung Hee University, currently conducting post-graduate research at the School of East Asian Studies.</ref>. It is reported that it was "virtually impossible to find people who had not been sexually abused by the owners of the clubs or the managers of the entertainment-promotion agencies" <ref>Munhwa Daily, February 14, 2003</ref> | |||
| "Call Girls" are a major portion of prostitution in Korea. Call Girl sex services usually take place at hotels. | |||
| ==Korean prostitution in Japan== | |||
| Park Jae-wan, a lawmaker of the largest opposition Grand National Party claimed that about 30,000 South Koreans, male and female, amongst 40,000 to 60,000 illegal South Korean emigrants, were working as prostitutes in Japan <ref>http://e4u.ybmsisa.com/FreeZone/AlZzaStudy/NewsEng/view.asp?wdate=2007-06-19&page=15</ref><ref>http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200703/29/eng20070329_361903.html</ref> including college students and housewives, on holiday visas. <ref>http://news.naver.com/hotissue/ranking_read.php?date=20071120§ion_id=102&ranking_type=popular_day&office_id=028&article_id=0000220617&seq=1</ref> | |||
| ==Trafficking within Korea== | |||
| Professor Lee Won Woong of Kwandong University stated, that famines during the 1990s in North Korea "prompted many women to take up prostitution in return for food for themselves and their families" prostitution, as selling oneself, becoming a means of survival. Women defectors engaging in prostitution in China continued to do so after arriving in South Korea.<ref> | |||
| Love and Sex in North Korea by Jinhee Bonny and Kwang-Chool Lee. </ref> | |||
| Following decades of agricultural disasters and the failure of social, economic, and political policies,100,000 of North Koreans have attempted to leave the country where they have become vulnerable to criminal trafficking networks. The border areas are a hub for gangs who abduct or coerce women into prostitution, sex slavery and labor exploitation. With increases in mobility and industrialization, agricultural life is less attractive to women. It is not uncommon for corrupt border guards and government officials in North Korea to assist the traffickers. <ref>International Organization for Migration, “Traffickers Make Money through Humanitarian Crises,” Trafficking in Migrants, no. 19 (July 1999).</ref> | |||
| Women are leaving fully expectant of selling themselves in order to survive, others are being abducted or duped into sexual exploitation, female children are still being sold to traffickers by their parents. Women, feeling insecure and in desperate situations in Korea are easily coerced into marriage or prostitution. <ref> Human Rights Watch Report, “The Invisible Exodus: North Koreans in the People’s Republic of China,” November 2002</ref> <ref>Amnesty International, “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea: Persecuting the Starving: The Plight of North Koreans Fleeing to China,” 15 December 2000</ref> The situation is made worst following the repeal of protective laws and given the government of North Korea does not recognize that the problem of trafficking of persons exists.<ref>http://www.korea-dpr.com/faq.htm</ref> | |||
| ==Modern Prostitution== | |||
| The Women’s Studies Center of Ewha Woman’s University found in 1991, that 44.7% of Korean men had their first sexual experiences with a female prostitute, 55.4% answered that prostitution should be allowed to prevent rape and 25.6% were in favor of its legal regulation. <ref>A study of married adults’ sexuality consciousness and attitudes. Korea Research Institute for Culture and Sexuality Report , Chin, K. N., Y. J. Lee, S. J. Park, E. I. Song, & S. R. Kim. 1997.</ref> In 2003 survey, The Korean Times found 20 % of Korean men aged 20 to 64 pay for some kind of sexual encounter once a week. <ref>Korea Times, Feb 11, 2003</ref>. Culturally, infidelity is seen a characteristic of masculinity accounting for the increase in the growth of the sex industry. <ref>'Assuming Manhood: Prostitution and Patriotic Passion in Korea' by Cheng, Sealing. East Asia: An international Quarterly, 18(4), 2002. </ref> The earnings of prostitute are comparable a Korean engineers with 10 or more years seniority and professors at public universities <ref>Korean Institute of Criminology, Prostitution in Korea </ref> to as much as 360 million won (roughly US $ 311,150) per year according to the Seoul Times. | |||
| According to the Institute of Migration the modern Korean sex industry has its roots in the Japanese colonial period (1910-1945), when legalized, regulated and developed nationwide. Although a licensed industry ceased to exist, it transformed into an unlicensed but very well-organized trade involving both Korean and foreign women including victims of human trafficking.<ref>'A Review of Data on Trafficking in the Republic of Korea' by former IOM Chief of Mission, Seoul Dr June Lee</ref> The US State Department, classified South Korea as one of 23 countries which failed to meet the minimum standards for eliminating sex industry trafficking under the terms of the US 'Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act'<ref>http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/10492.pdf</ref> in July 2001. | |||
| ===Activities=== | |||
| Prostitutes still work in brothels that do little to conceal their activity, other in more sophisticated settings such as "room salon" or a "hostess bar", referred to in Korean as "noraejujeom" or "danlanjujeom". These are venues catering to groups of middle-aged businessmen often on company expenses. No sex takes place on the premises but negotiations for further services are often made elsewhere. Following the establishment of the 'Special Law on Prostitution', new forms of prostitution have started in Korea such as; | |||
| * Bangseokjips (방석집), in which small apartment in residential areas are rented where clients visit for sexual services, <ref>http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LS2D&mid=sec&sid1=102&sid2=257&oid=020&aid=0000368647</ref> | |||
| * “Show rooms” (쇼방) or “ddeok bars” where women dance on a stage and males select them by the numbers they wear after which they have sex | |||
| * Ticket coffee shops (]s) | |||
| * "Corrupt barber shops" (a Ministry of Health and Social Affairs raid of 150 fake barber shops in Seoul found that 5% of prostitutes were infected with syphilis, 16.9% with gonorrhea, rates higher than those working in the government licensed and health controlled "special businesses".) | |||
| * Meetings in "Turkish Baths" or bathhouses (jiimjiibang) | |||
| * Daeddalbangs (대딸방) which are massage parlors where nude or semi-nude college-aged girls offer sexual services, the name originating from the merging of 대 (an abbreviation of 대학교 or university) and 딸 (an abbreviation of 딸딸 or masturbation) | |||
| * low priced "Doll rooms” where men enter a room to have sex with a life-size doll to avoid the possibility of breaking the law | |||
| * Wonjo gyoje, or "compensated dating" with older men <ref>Factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation: Korea", Coalition Against Trafficking in Women.</ref> | |||
| * Street-level prostitution exists for the poor | |||
| * Highway prostitution for truck drivers | |||
| * Women taxi drivers exist who provide additional sexual services<ref>Assuming Manhood: Prostitution and Patriotic Passions in Korea by Cheng Sea-ling. Asia: A Quarterly Journal, 18, 4, Winter, 40-78</ref> | |||
| * call girls services in city downtowns (보도방), which take introduction fees and act as middlemen. | |||
| According to data from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, there were 40,123 so-called singing-room and room salons, about 3,000 steambaths, barber shops, 535 massage par lors, a total number of 43,658 establishments. The unofficial count is expected to be higher. 29% of the college age sex workers report that the biggest reason for becoming prostitutes was to pay for tuition fees, 25% wanted more spending money, 47% said they just wanted to make money quickly and had an urgent need.<ref>http://www.bizplace.co.kr/sesports/content/content_view.html?seq_no=6184&b_code=b_content6</ref> | |||
| Massage parlors offering sexual services sometimes distinguish themselves from legitimate parlors by advertising with the word "]", sometimes with large neon signs. Following the enactment of the Special Law in 2004, there was a crackdown on red-light districts. A move many thought was more toward releasing real estate for residential development than striking a blow against prostitution.<ref>Sex and denial in South Korea by David Scofield</ref> | |||
| While many of the brothels in those areas were forced to close, the crackdown came as quickly as it went. Prostitution was driven more underground but also became a more competitive business with lower prices and more services<ref>Secret Sex Clubs Thrive Despite Police Clampdown by Kim Tong-hyung. Korea Times March 4, 2007</ref>. Well-known redlight districts are full of "glass houses", where girls wait for customers in small rooms with curtains. "Call Girls" are a major portion of prostitution in Korea, sexual services usually taking place at hotels. | |||
| The United States Embassy in Korea stated that, "The domestic crackdown on prostitution may have decreased the demand for commercial sexual exploitation in Korea, but it has caused an increase in the number of Korean women and girls moving abroad for commercial sexual exploitation." <ref>http://seoul.usembassy.gov/060508rok.html</ref> | |||
| In ], The Ministry for Gender Equality, in an attempt to address the issue of demand for prostitutes among, offered cash to companies whose male employees pledged not to pay for sex after office parties.<ref>{{cite news|title=S Koreans offered cash for no sex|publisher= BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6209549.stm |}}</ref> | |||
| ===Recruitment=== | |||
| A new phenomenon in the late 1980s, indicative of the increase in demand for prostitutes, was highlighted by the the Korean Women's Association United (KWAU) in 1988. The KWAU campaigned to raise the issue of an increasing number of women being kidnapped from streets in South Korea by Korean and Korean-American gangs, raped, held captive and sold as prostitutes. <ref>The Smuggling and Trafficking of Korean Women to the United States: A Preliminary Study by Prof. Timothy C. Lim, CSU, Los Angeles. IOM Seoul Public Symposium on Korean Victims of Trafficking, 2006</ref> Some as young as 14.<ref>Mike Gallagher, “Prostitution Ring Traps S. Koreans,” USA Today (April 7, 1995)</ref> These included high school girls and housewives. Fake employment agencies, offering jobs in the entertainment industry had existed for much longer enticing young women from the countryside. <ref>Women's Lives and Public Policy: The International Experience by Meredeth Turshen, Briavel Holcomb, Contributor Meredeth Turshen. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1993</ref> | |||
| In 1996 Korean police arrested staff and members of the Korea Special Tourism Association who had brought in women from foreign countries on government issued entertainment visas (E-6), charging commission fees from venue owners at US Military camptowns, forging contracts of employment, and them forced them to engage in prostitution <ref>Gyeonggido Jiyeok Seong Maemae Siltae Josa Mit Jeongchaek Daean Yeongu (Survey of Prostitution in Gyeonggi Province and the Anti-prostitution Policy Research) by Kang Ok-Kyung, Kim Hyun Sun, and Jeon Su-Kyung (2001). Dongducheon: Saewoomtuh the Center for Prostitute Women.</ref><ref>Hankyoreh Weekly, July 17, 2002</ref> The Korean Police acknowledged that E-6 visas were "nothing more than a cover for prostitution". Foreign women, as "]s" were considered "essential to the survival of the military camptown business" as part of an arrangement that the Korean government are just as culpable at the US Military. <ref>The Natashas by Victor Malarek. Arcade Publishing, 2004</ref> The recruitment agencies are committing illegal acts and do not have the permission of their government to be engaged in such business. | |||
| ===Protests=== | |||
| In 2004, thousands came together in protests about the closure of brothels in Korea. 15 Korean sex workers began a hunger strike <ref>Korean sex trade 'victims' strike for rights by Sealing Cheng, Rockefeller post-doctoral fellow in the Program for the Study of Sexuality, Gender, Health, and Human Rights at Columbia University </ref> in November of that year which end in January 2005 and in November 2005, the Suwon Supreme Court ruled the Daeddalbang massage parlors offering sexual services and staffed by female students to be legal. <ref>http://www.bizplace.co.kr/sesports/content/content_view.html?seq_no=6184&b_code=b_content6</ref> and nine former South Korean prostitutes filed lawsuits against their pimps seeking punitive damages in a landmark legal case due to the failure of their pimps to pay out advances of as much as 10 million won ($8,400). The women say they were lured into prostitution under the age of 18 and are suffering emotional distress.<ref>http://chinadaily.cn/en/doc/2004-01/07/content_296559.htm</ref> | |||
| In Goonsan, during 2000 and 2000, 5 and 15 prostitutes died in fires, locked into brothels by their owners. Their publicized diaries revealed the true horrors of their existence, raising public consciousness. <ref>Solving the problems of trafficking in Women: the women's human rights perspective by Cho Young-sook President Center for Women's Human Rights, Korea 2007</ref> | |||
| ==Child prostitution== | |||
| The US Government reports that "South Korean men continue to be a significant source of demand<ref> | |||
| 바람난 남자, 등돌린 여자 by Kim Young-soo, sponsored by the United Nations Convention on Child Rights </ref> for child sex tourism in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands". <ref>http://seoul.usembassy.gov/060508rok.html</ref> and has concerns about "Korean nationals who sexually exploit children abroad." Its Ministry of Justice launched a campaign against child sex tourism called “Don’t be an Ugly Korean” in mid-2007 and targetted travel agencies. | |||
| The non-governmental organization (NGO) Korean Women’s House reports an average of 100,000 runaway children and youths per year, many of whom are employed in entertainment establishments for adults and are sexually exploited.<ref> Ecpat Global Monitoring Report on the status of action against commercial sexual exploitation of children in South Korea, 2006. </ref><ref>Lee, Kyung-Eun Youth Sex Protection Division, National Commission on Youth. The Youth Sex Protection Policy in Korea. International Symposium: Conditions and Countermeasures to Overseas Child and Youth Sex Tourism by Korean Men, October 2005</ref> | |||
| In a report published in the Korea Times, about 20% of teenage prostitutes in Pusan began working when they were under 14. The Pusan Metropolitan Police Agency stated that the motivation of between 31 to 36% was to sell sex for a living, many have run away from home. Others chose to prostitute themselves to make money to buy fashion goods. 1.2% began prostitution under the age of 12, 17.6% between the ages of 13 and 14 and 58.8% between the ages of 15 and 16. They received between 50,000-150,000 won per prostitution job ($35 to $105). On February 10, 2006, Chung Ah-young of The Korea Times wrote that 1 out of 5 prostitutes begin sex trade under age of 14. | |||
| Of the men using the girls, office workers accounted for 30.6% and 22.9% were independent business owners, 82.9% of the transactions were arranged via the Internet.<ref>Chung Ah-young. Korea Times, February 10, 2006</ref> | |||
| In another report by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, among teenage female prostitutes; 11.7% were 14 years old, 17.1% were 15 years old, 30% were 16 years old and 15.8% were 17 years old. 8 girls were under the age of 13. 40.8% of their male clients were in their 20s, 43.6% were in their 30s, 12.7% were in their 40s and 1.1% were over 50.<ref>Continuum Complete International Encyclopedia of Sexuality</ref> The numbers of child prostitutes is unknown and has been grossly exagerated in the past <ref>Korea Must Counter Foreign Reports on Child Prostitution by Moon Gwang-lip. The Korea Times Wednesday, September 8, 2004</ref> | |||
| Child Rights, a nongovernment organization whose aim is to eradicate child prostitution in South Korea found that there are approximately 300,000 children in sexual servitude. In a report to UN Special Session Geneva about 'Victims of Child Prostitution Living in Shelters and Rehabilitation Institution Managed, Licensed or Supervised by the State' Child Rights found victims of child prostitution were further punished and abused. A quarter of sexual crime victims are children. Over 50 % of criminal charges of child prostitution and child sexual abuse are dismissed by Korean judges. <ref>http://www.child-rights.net/peace.html</ref> <ref>Moonwha Ilbo: July 29, 2000</ref> | |||
| The United States Embassy in Korea states that a "growing number of Korean men continue to travel to the Taiwan, the Philippines, Cambodia, Thailand, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia for child sex tourism".<ref>Lee, Kyung-Eun Youth Sex Protection Division, National Commission on Youth. The Youth Sex Protection Policy in Korea. International Symposium: Conditions and Countermeasures to Overseas Child and Youth Sex Tourism by Korean Men. 31 October 2005.</ref> | |||
| Korea's government has never prosecuted a Korean national for child sex tourism nor has it ratified the 2000 UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children.<ref>http://seoul.usembassy.gov/060508rok.html</ref> The South Korean and US government are now colluding to forbidding US child sex tourists from entering Korea and Korea child sex offenders from entering the US. <ref>American Sex Offenders Denied Entry to Korea by Park Si-soo. Korea Times, 2008-05-08</ref> | |||
| Treatment for victims of child sex prostitution is not compulsory not available at all for boy victims.<ref>STATE PARTY EXAMINATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA’S FIRST PERIODIC REPORT ON THE OPSC (Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child. Pornography) 48TH SESSION OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD 19 MAY - 6 JUNE 2008 </ref> | |||
| ==Transsexual and Male prostitution== | |||
| Korea also has a long history of male and transvestite prostitution including those amongst the chajewhi, or “little-brother attendants” of the nobility, and the ] performing artists, <ref>'Pacific Homosexualities' by Stephen O. Murray. AuthorHouse, 2002</ref> especially the ppriri, or "newcomers", and midong, or "beautiful boys", who played the penetrated sex roles in their performances and were male prostitutes for the rural ruling class<ref>Nanshoku: Homosexuality, Gender, and the Social Order in Tokugawa Japan by Gary Leupp, 1995</ref>. | |||
| According to Kim Keun-bae, a former namsadang performer, some senior performers made extra income by letting their male lovers sleep with the servants in the villages where the troup was performing, an opinion that is supported by Song Sokha of the Society of Korean Studies (Chindanhakoe) who wrote that the namsadang were troupes of performers whose chief purpose was to earn money as boy prostitutes from the Yi Dynasty, direct;y imitating the highly organized groups of lower-class female prostitute-entertainers. The system continued up until the early 20th century. <ref>'The flower boys of Sila (hwarang)' by Richard Rutt, Asian Homosexuality, Garland, 1992.</ref><ref>'Homosexuality in ancient and modern Korea' by Young-Gwan Kim, & Sok-Ja Hahn | |||
| Culture, Health & Sexuality, January–February 2006; 8(1): 59–65 </ref> | |||
| Many members of the rural ruling class maintained boys for sexual purposes. | |||
| ==Prostitution in Korean Popular Culture== | |||
| Documentary: | |||
| * Camp Arirang.1995. (Directed by Diana S. Lee and Grace Yoonkyung Lee), featuring a 50 year old Korean ex-sex worker at a government subsidized camptown for U.S. airforce personnel and the experience of the fatherless mixed-race children of the sex workers. | |||
| Movies: | |||
| Both male and under-age female modern prostitution have featured in contemporary cinema and released internationally, e.g. | |||
| * 'No Regret' (Huhwihaji anha) (2006) by Hee-il Leesong about a male orphan, forced to leave the orphanage at the mandatory 18 years old who finds himself unemployed and becomes a male prostitute at a host bar in Seoul where where straight men sleep with rent-boys. | |||
| * 'Naughty Girls' (Dasepo sonyo) (2006) by Je-yong Lee which features school age prostitution. | |||
| * ']' (2003) by director Kim Ki Duk about Jae-Young, an amateur school girl prostitute who sleeps with men while her best friend Yeo-Jin solicits for her. | |||
| * ']' (색즉시공, Saekjeuk shigong) (2002) by Yoon Je-kyoon, which involved jokes about college boys selling themselves to middle age women. | |||
| Novels: | |||
| * ] : A Novel of Korea by Ahn Junghyo (January 1990) in which following the American invasion a young boy called Mansik watches his mother raped by soldiers, shunned by other villagers and seeking work as a prostitute to feed his siblings. | |||
| ==See also== | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| ==Bibliography== | |||
| * The Construction of U.S. Camptown Prostitution in South Korea: Transformation and Resistance by Na Young Lee, Ph.D., 2006 | |||
| * A Study of Industrial Prostitution by Byun W., & J. Hwang. Women’s Studies Forum , 15:211-230 1999. | |||
| * Industrial Prostitution and South Korea Dependent Development by Heisoo Shin | |||
| * International Women in South Korea's Sex Industry: A New Commodity Frontier by Joon K. Kim and May Fu. Asian Survey May/June 2008, Vol. 48, No. 3, Pages 492–513 | |||
| * Sexual Slavery in Korea by Matsui Yayori and Lora Sharnoff. University of Nebraska Press, 'Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies', Vol. 2, No. 1, (Spring, 1977), pp. 22-30 | |||
| * South Korean Movements against Militarized Sexual Labor by Katharine H. S. Moon. University of California Press 'Asian Survey', Vol. 39, No. 2, (Mar. - Apr., 1999), pp. 310-327 | |||
| * Korea Church Women United (KCWU), Lisaeng Tourism: A Nation-wide Survey Report on Conditions in Four Areas: Seoul, Pusan, Cheju, Kyongu, Research Issue Material, no. 3. (Seoul, 1984) | |||
| * J.T. Takagi and Hye Jung Park, The Women Outside, documentary (New York: Third World Newsreel, 1995) | |||
| * International Sex Traffickingin Women in Korea: Its Causes, Consequences and Countermeasures. Seol Dong-Hoon. AJWS Vol. 10 No. 2, 2004. pp. 7-47 | |||
| * Korean Women's Association United | |||
| * The Industrial Vagina: The Political Economy of the Global Sex Trade by Sheila Jeffreys.Routledge, 2008. | |||
| * A survey of white collar workers usage of the entertainment establishments Report 20, Citizen's Self-Help Movement Series. Seoul YMCA,1989a. | |||
| ==References== | ==References== | ||
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| *{{cite news|author=William H. McMichael |url=http://www.navytimes.com/legacy/new/0-292236-535181.php |title=Sex slaves |publisher=] |date=2002-08-12 |accessdate=2007-07-11|}} | *{{cite news|author=William H. McMichael |url=http://www.navytimes.com/legacy/new/0-292236-535181.php |title=Sex slaves |publisher=] |date=2002-08-12 |accessdate=2007-07-11|}} | ||
| *{{cite news|author=Donald MacIntyre |url=http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/article/0,13673,501020812-333899,00.html |title=Base Instincts |publisher= ]|2002-08-05|accessdate=2007-07-11|}} | *{{cite news|author=Donald MacIntyre |url=http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/article/0,13673,501020812-333899,00.html |title=Base Instincts |publisher= ]|2002-08-05|accessdate=2007-07-11|}} | ||
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| {{Asia in topic|Prostitution in}} | {{Asia in topic|Prostitution in}} | ||
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Revision as of 17:00, 21 November 2008
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Prostitution in South Korea is an illegal industry. According to The Korea Women's development Institute, The sex trade in Korea was estimated to amount to 14 trillion won ($ 13 billion) in 2007, roughly 1.6 percent of the nation's gross domestic product. The number of prostitutes dropped by 18 percent to 269,000 during the same period. The sex trade involved some 94 million transactions in 2007, down from 170 million in 2002. The amount of money traded for prostitution was over 14 trillion won, much less than 24 trillion won in 2002.
In 2003, the Korean Institute of Criminology announced that 330,000, which takes 1 of 25 of Korean women over 20s in age may be engaged in sex industry. However, Korean Feminist Association alleged that at least 800,000 Korean women would participate in the prostitution industry.
In December 2006, The Ministry for Gender Equality, in an attempt to address the issue of demand for prostitutes among, offered cash to companies whose male employees pledged not to pay for sex after office parties. The people responsible for this policy claimed that they want to put an end to a culture in which men get drunk at parties and go on to buy sex.
Historical context
With the end of the Japanese occupation in 1945, state-registered prostitution was made illegal by the governing United States authority in 1947, and the law was re-confirmed by the new South Korean parliament in 1948. Nevertheless, prostitution flourished in the next decades as the law was not treated seriously.
Human trafficking
See also: Human rights in South KoreaSouth Korea is both a source and destination country for human trafficking; mainly Russian and Southeast Asian women are brought into the country for prostitution by Korean organized crime, many of whom are tricked into thinking they will have a legitimate job. Many female migrant workers are recruited by Korean employment agencies to come to the country to work in factories. They are often later deceived and forced into prostitution .
Though as recently as 2001 the government received low marks on the issue, in recent years the government has made significant strides in its enforcement efforts. Human trafficking was outlawed and penalties for prostitution increased; the 2004 Act on the Prevention of the Sex Trade and Protection of its Victims was passed, toughening penalties for traffickers, ending deportation of victims, and establishing a number of shelters for victims. As of 2005 there were 144 people serving jail time for human trafficking. However, despite the efforts to crackdown on the industry and human trafficking, the sex trade in Korea evolves around the new laws that come in to place, with new variations, such as bangseokjips (방석집), where prostitutes rent apartments in residential areas, and their clients continue to visit for sexual services. These Korean women and new forms of prostitution also get exported to the US.
A US Immigration official conceded in 2006 that "There's a highly organized logistical network between Korea and the United States with recruiters, brokers, intermediaries, taxi drivers and madams".
In New York and Virginia of the United States, many Korean women were arrested for prostitution. Los Angeles Police Department said that Since 2006, 90% of prostitutes arrested every month in Los Angeles are Koreans.
The US State Department 2008 report titled, "Trafficking in person's report: June 2008," states that in "March 2008, a joint operation between the AFP and DIAC broke up a syndicate in Sydney that allegedly trafficked South Korean women to a legal brothel and was earning more than $2.3 million a year. Police allege the syndicate recruited Korean women through deception about the conditions under which they would be employed, organized their entry into Australia under false pretenses, confiscated their travel documents, and forced them to work up to 20 hours a day in a legal Sydney brothel owned by the syndicate."
The US State Department report also states that "the South Korean government fully complies with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. Over the last year, the government continued law enforcement efforts against sex trafficking, and signed MOUs for the Employment Placement System (EPS) with five additional countries and conducted numerous anti-trafficking awareness campaigns. The Korean National Police Agency cooperated with foreign law enforcement agencies to crack down on human smuggling networks that have been known to traffic women for sexual exploitation. However, these commendable efforts with respect for sex trafficking have not been matched by investigations, prosecutions, and convictions of labor trafficking occurring within South Korea’s large foreign labor force. Efforts to reduce demand for child sex tourism, in light of the scale of the problem, would be enhanced by law enforcement efforts to investigate Korean nationals who sexually exploit children abroad. South Korean men continue to be a significant source of demand for child sex tourism in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands."
Modern Prostitution
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Today, while a number of prostitutes do work in brothels that do little to conceal their activity, most are believed to work in much more sophisticated settings, where sex might take place only at the discretion of the woman herself. A "room salon" or a "hostess bar" (referred to in Korean as "noraejujeom/danlanjujeom") is a venue where groups of middle-aged businessmen, usually using the company credit card, can drink with young hostesses. No sex takes place on the premises but negotiations for further services are often made elsewhere. While the hostesses very often engage in sexual activities with the customer, they can sometimes refuse sexual advances entirely. This seems to be especially true when the customer is of non-Korean ethnicity.
Massage parlors offering sexual services sometimes distinguish themselves from legitimate parlors by advertising with the word "anma", sometimes quite openly with large neon signs. Following the enactment of the Special Law in 2004, there was a crackdown on red-light districts; while many of the brothels in those areas were forced to close, the crackdown came as quickly as it went, with the result that prostitution was driven more underground but also became a more competitive business with lower prices and more services. Well-known redlight districts are full of "glass houses", where girls wait for customers in small rooms with curtains.
"Call Girls" are a major portion of prostitution in Korea. Call Girl sex services usually take place at hotels.
References
- ^ Sex trade accounts for 1.6% of GDP, Korea Women's development Institute
- "800,000 prostitutes in Korea(売買春産業の規模、少なくとも80万人)" (in Japanese). JoongAng Ilbo Japan. 2003-02-24. Retrieved 2008-08-29.
- "S Koreans offered cash for no sex". BBC News.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - Donald Macintyre/Tongduchon. "Base Instincts". TIME magazine.
- Lee Hyang Won. "Reality of Women Migrant Workers in South Korea". 평화만들기.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters:|1=and|2=(help) - David Scofield (25). "Korea's 'crackdown culture' - now it's brothels". Asia Times.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=and|year=/|date=mismatch (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help); Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - "Marmot's Hole". Retrieved 2008-01-01.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - "하루면 '미국의 밤' 물들여" (in Korean). Naver News. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - "Sex Trafficking". The San Francisco Chronicle.
- Deanne Fitzmaurice. ""Sex Trafficking" (Video). The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2007-07-11.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - "8,000 Korean prostitutes in USA (韓国人女性８０００人、米国で'遠征売春')" (in Japanese). JoongAng Ilbo Japan. 2006-06-21. Retrieved 2008-07-30.
- "Trafficking in Person's report: June 2008" (PDF). United States Government State Department.
- "Trafficking in Person's report: June 2008" (PDF). United States Government State Department.
External links
- Sealing Cheng (2004-12-22). "Korean sex trade 'victims' strike for rights". The Asia Times. Retrieved 2007-07-11.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - David Scofield (2004-05-26). "Sex and denial in South Korea". The Asia Times. Retrieved 2007-07-11.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - "Thousands of Women Forced Into Sexual Slavery For US Servicemen in South Korea". Feminist Daily News Wire. 2002-09-09. Retrieved 2007-07-11.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - William H. McMichael (2002-08-12). "Sex slaves". Navy Times. Retrieved 2007-07-11.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - Donald MacIntyre. "Base Instincts". Time Magazine. Retrieved 2007-07-11.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|2=(help); Text "2002-08-05" ignored (help)
