Korea: Illegal sex trade dying hard
Police declared Sept. 23, 2004, as the last day for legal
prostitution
in the country.
Two years later, however, it seems that the clampdown on illegal
sex
will require much more than just shutting down brothels, as the
sex
industry enjoys a rebound using underground means, such as
massage
parlors, bars, private homes and the Internet.
Adopting a "zero-tolerance" approach to the sex trade and the
trafficking of women, the anti-prostitution law enforced in 2004
could
put brothel owners in prison for up to ten years with a maximum
fine
of 100 million won for hiring prostitutes. Any financial
gains
acquired by selling sex could be confiscated by the state.
Buying sex was also made a criminal offense punishable by up to
one
year in jail and 3 million won in fines.
Police officials claim that the strengthened crackdown on the
sex
industry is achieving important results, as the number of
red-light
districts, once easily seen from the street corners of any city,
have
dropped sharply in recent years.
According to statistics of the National Police Agency, there
were
1,679 red-light districts around the country as of September
2004,
with the sex shops employing about 5,500 prostitutes.
As of May this year, the number of red-light districts was 1,097,
with
about 2,660 prostitutes working in brothels.
In Seoul, existing red-light districts in Yongsan,
Chongnyangni,
Chongam-dong and other areas are expected to be cleared up next
year
through new urban development plans.
Since the adoption of the anti-prostitution law, police have
charged
more than 40,000 brothel owners, pimps, prostitutes and
customers.
"Although some of the brothels that went under because of the
strengthened police crackdown at the start are reopening, the
number
of shops and prostitutes have dropped significantly, as has the
number
of customers," said Sgt. Yang Sang-mo at the National Police
Agency's
women and juvenile affairs division.
However, skeptics argue that the strengthened crackdown on
prostitution opened the doors to other venues for the sex
industry
with which law enforcement authorities find harder to deal.
According to a survey earlier this year by the Korean Institute
for
Criminology, more than 60 percent of the 450 adult males who said
they
bought sex in the past year said they used massage parlors, which
are
quickly becoming the center of the underground sex trade.
Numbers released by the Financial Supervisory Service show that
credit
card spending at massage parlors rose 23 percent year-on-year in
2005.
Illegal sex transactions are also frequent at bars, hotels and
even
private homes, according to police, with pimps sending out
prostitutes
disguised as masseuses.
Internet dating services that connect prostitutes, and sometimes
even
teenaged girls, with sex buyers are also a problem.
The police charged more than 3,300 people for engaging in the
Internet-based sex trade in a crackdown this summer, which
accounted
for more than 22 percent of the sex offenders caught during the
period.
Last week, the police detained 25 prostitutes, pimps and
Japanese
tourists in a crackdown on Internet-based sex rings.
There are also worries that an increasing number of Korean women
are
being lured into trafficking rings and forced to participate
in
commercial sex services overseas.
Last year, about 60 people were arrested in the San Francisco Bay
Area
and Los Angeles on charges of smuggling Korean women into the
country
and forcing them to work as prostitutes at massage parlors and
other
businesses.
"Although most people now accept that selling and buying sex is
a
criminal offense, there is still a significant demand for sex.
For
brothel owners and pimps, its just about finding an easier way
to
sell," said Kim Young-rahn, who co-heads the civic group Naeil
Women's
Center for Youth.
The sex industry in 2004 accounted for over 4 percent of Korea's
gross
domestic product, according to a report by the Korean Institute
for
Criminology.