Prostitutions in Korea Can prostitutes be sex slaves?

[Anon]

prostitution in Korea
created by Dystopian Autocrat

Prostitution is everywhere in South Korea, and takes a variety of forms.

The first form is the red light district. Any Korean city of respectible size will have one, usually close to downtown. It'll consist of a block or two packed with brothels, with hot Korean girls in short skirts hanging around outside. Inside, it's like a noraebang (singing room), except there's a hostess who'll bring out a bunch of girls and get you to each pick one (going to sleep with prostitutes is a group activity for Korean men). Then you order a case of beer for about 100,000 Won, drink it with the girls, and fool around with them there. Later, you can take them to one of the many motels nearby. The price of the girls is included with the beer, I believe.

Any Korean city, even the small towns, will also have "private bars", or "room salons". These are bars where you'll get a private room and a hostess to pour your drinks for you, and, for an additional fee, have sex with you.

Another thing you'll see in Korea is guys on scooters driving around with girls in short skirts riding side saddle on the back. These are "coffee girls". Their job is to deliver "coffee" to businessmen. In short, there are certain coffee shops you can call and order coffee to be brought to your home/workplace. You will in fact get coffee, but it will be delivered by a girl who is, essentially, a prostitute.

Perhaps the strangest form, however, is the "I-yong-won". These appear, to the untrained foreigner's eye, to be barber shops. They are distinguished from the normal kind by the presence of two red, white and blue barber poles out front. If you go in there, you can in fact get your hair cut, but there is one barber chair in the corner which has a screen, similar to a shower curtain that can be pulled around it. If you sit down in that one, you will be attended to by a woman who will do more than just cut your hair. The amazing thing about these places is that they are everywhere. There is usually one every three blocks or so; there is one right across the street from my school, in fact.

There are also a large number of Russian women who come to Korea as prostitutes, since many Korean men are interested in foreign women. Busan has a particualrly large Russian population; the Russian women in that city turn their tricks in an area that used to be known as Texas Street around the time of the Korean War, but has subsequently been effectively turned into Russia Town.

Disclaimer: Although I have lived in Korea for a year now, I have not actualled used any of the above services, although I have been to one of the brothels (see February 7, 2003)... I just didn't sleep with the prostitute. All this information (except for the stuff about the brothels) is second hand, told to me by Koreans, and other, more experienced foreigners. Therefore, some minor details may be a bit off, but the information is, on the whole, accurate.

[Anon]

Prostitution in South Korea is a $20 billion-a-year industry.[1] As in neighboring Japan, the sex industry in South Korea is big business, accounting for $20 billion, or 4.1 percent of the nation's total gross domestic product in 2002, just behind agriculture at 4.4 percent, according to the same report by the Korean Institute of Criminology.

Since 2004, Prostitution in South Korea prohibited by law.[1]

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.[2]

[Anon]

Koreans like sex. In fact they love it. Consensual, under age, extra marital, kinky; you name it, they do it. But most of all Koreans like paid for sex. Korean men that is. They live for it. They spend millions on it every month. They have countless ways of getting their rocks off for cash. Juicy bars.

Barber shops. Turkish baths. Room salons. Hostess bars. Strip clubs. Massage parlours. Brothels. About 358,000 men buy sex each day. That's a lot of money. And a hell of a lot of sex. So why? Korea is not the first place you think of when the words ‘sex' and ‘Asia' are bandied around. Thailand, Philippines, Cambodia, Japan. These are all places that have a reputation for pay for play horizontal dancing. But Korea is better known for its cell phones and fermented cabbage.

However, the fact is that prostitution is everywhere in Korea. From the ubiquitous barber pole to the basement coffee shops, prostitution is a higher chunk of the GDP than agriculture. According to a report released by the Korean Institute of Criminology (KIC), the nation's sex trade was estimated at 24 trillion won (US$ 20.4 billion) last year, accounting for 4.1 percent of 578 trillion won, the total GDP.

Dancers in a Seoul Nightclub
Nearly 20 percent of men aged between 20 and 64 visit prostitutes on average 4.5 times every month, spending a sum that breaks down to 154,000 won (US$ 130) each time. The main reason for the predilection of sex for sale is as always, economics. The average female salary worker can expect to earn substantially less then their male equivalent. Handbags and nose jobs don't just pay for themselves.

This ‘invisible hand' as Adam Smith describes it can be considered one of the main reasons for the booming sex trade here. There is always going to be a demand everywhere in the world, but the supply here more than meets it. There is also a culture of acceptance.

Business dealings are often conducted in room salons, upscale drinking clubs where girls are on offer. The Korean need to feel comfortable socially with your business partners has had a knock on effect on the skin trade. Countless students, secretaries and housewives work as ‘entertainers' in these venues, singing, pouring drinks and sucking cock.

Miari. Northern Seoul. The banners were only up for a short time, but they illustrated the hypocrisy of the sex scene here. They banned foreigners from frequenting the warren like lanes that house the brothels in one of Seoul's biggest red light districts. The reasons? Ignorance, racism, but as always when sex is for sale, economics took precedence. Pimps feared that the influx of foreign men on a nightly basis was scaring off the Korean regulars, who were worried about contracting SARS or AIDS.

The Bangladeshi and Pakistani factory workers were bad for business and simply had to go. Miari and places like it are the real underbelly of the sex scene here. The girls are often underage and held against their will, forced to service grunting adjussis for 30 minutes at a time.

Conor Purcell The Seoul Times

[Anon]

According to the report released by the Korean Institute of Criminology (KIC), the nation's sex trade was estimated at 24 trillion won ($20.4 billion) last year, accounting for 4.1 percent of 578 trillion won, the total GDP.

The amount far exceeds that of the electricity, gas and water supply industry, which accounts for 2.9 percent of the GDP, and lags slightly behind the agricultural industry's 4.4 percent.

There are no guaranteed statistics on the sex industry, however, as prostitution is outlawed in Korea.

But the KIC said it calculated the volume of industry based on its survey of 5,403 sites providing sex services, such as bars and massage parlors, in Seoul and six other cities between August and November last year.

The report estimated that up to 4.1 percent of Korean women in their 20s and 30s work in the business. This accounts for 8 percent of employed women in these age groups.

About 358,000 men buy sex each day. Nearly 20 percent of men aged between 20 and 64 visit prostitutes on average 4.5 times every month, spending a sum that breaks down to 154,000 won each time, according to the report.

The KIC said among the employers or brokers of prostitutes uncovered by police, an average of 76 percent were fined last year.

There has been a heated debate in Korea on whether to decriminalize prostitution. Proponents have claimed that legalization would make it easier for the authorities to supervise the sex industry and protect the rights and health of prostitutes, while opponents contended that the trade of women's bodies should not be encouraged at any costkalaniosullivan.com/Kunsan AB

[Anon]

More Koreans Buy Sex Abroad[1](http://www.humantraf ficking.org/updates/265 )
November 2005

A civic group has urged the South Korean government to come up with countermeasures against an increasing number of Korean men participating in the overseas sex trade.

The Seoul-based Naeil Women's Center for Youth said Monday that Kim Young-ran, head of the center, and other participants in an international symposium described a couple of cases in which Korean men had sexual intercourse with underage prostitutes in other countries.

The center yesterday held an international symposium on the theme of "Conditions and Countermeasures to Overseas Child and Youth Sex Tourism by Korean Men" at Seoul Women'ss Plaza in Taebang-dong, southwestern Seoul.

According to the panel and the center, a Korean man operating a massage parlor with his masseuses in the Philippines was arrested on charges of prostitution in August 2004.

They faced criminal charges without bail as they violated the Republic Act (RA) 9208, Kim said.

An increasing number of Koreans buy sex in the Philippines, sometimes abusing prostitutes. The Philippine government has urged the Korean government to take firm action against soliciting prostitution, in particular buying sex from children.

The panel also pointed out that Cambodia is recently becoming popular with Korean tourists.

In 2004, the number of Korean travelers was 12.7 percent or 128,423, the largest number in the total tourist population visiting Cambodia.

There is a possibility that a mounting number of Korean tourists in Cambodia might contribute to boosting the sex industry and human trafficking, especially threatening children who are vulnerable to sexual exploitation. The panel said that children are sometimes coerced into the sex trade to earn money for their families.

They said Korean tourists are believed to abuse the unfortunate situation of Cambodian children living under the poverty line. The center said Korean travel agencies have joined the international effort to eradicate child prostitution across borders.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has offered educational programs for Korean tourists and agencies to prevent sex tourism in other countries.

The center has joined End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT) in 2004, which currently has 73 nongovernmental organizations in 67 countries worldwide.

----------
1 Adapted from: Chung Ah-young. "More Koreans Buy Sex Abroad." The Korea Times. October 31, 2005.

[Anon]

Trafficking in Persons Report -Report Home Page

Released by the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
June 12, 2007

REPUBLIC OF KOREA (Tier 1)

The Republic of Korea (R.O.K.) is primarily a source country for the trafficking of women and girls internally and to the United States (often through Canada and Mexico), Japan, Hong Kong, Guam, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Western Europe for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Women from Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China (P.R.C.), the Philippines, Thailand, and other Southeast Asian countries are trafficked for sexual exploitation to South Korea. A growing number of these foreign victims were trafficked to the R.O.K. for sexual or labor exploitation through brokered international marriages to South Korean men. South Korean men are a significant source of demand for child sex tourism in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands.

[plain truth]

Your a weirdo. Nobody is reading your rambling on and on and on.
What you think writing a novel makes up for your bullsht

[Anon]

South Korea investigates mass sex abuse at school

Reuters
Friday, May 2, 2008

SEOUL: South Korean police on Friday arrested three teenage males on suspicion of sexually molesting primary school students in a series of assault cases that a civic group and local media said had more than 50 victims.

Older students forced boy and girl students at the primary school in the south-eastern city of Daegu to mimic sexual acts they had seen on pornographic websites and TV, according to the civic group made up of parents from the area, teachers and human rights advocates.

News of the case has saturated South Korean media in the past few days and led to questions about the responsibility of parents and educators.

A police official in Daegu said the three middle school boys were arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing eight elementary or primary school girls. The official would not comment on the scope of the investigation.

The three are part of a group of 11 students who sexually abused the children on the campus of the elementary school where students are mainly from seven to 12 years old. The students would beat the younger students if they did not participate, Yonhap news agency reported parents and police as saying.

The school was first told of the sexual violence months ago, local media citing police sources said, and has been criticised for not acting swiftly.

The name of the school has not been released in order to protect the children.

(Reporting by Lee Jiyeon, writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Valerie Lee)

[Way off your trolly]

Anon,

Your hate post of bullshit rants dates back July 2007. Have you been wronged by some Koreans? Perhaps you've been subjected to some humiliation? Someone on the receiving end of your cash had a good old laughed at your little weener? Can't forget it so you rant all day long on here?

Get a fcuking life you sad little fcuk!

[Anon]

In Waterbury, Connecticut, 33 Korean women were arrested in early June for allegedly providing sexual services at area massage parlors. A Waterbury police official said Korean massage parlors have been spreading at a fast rate.

According to the JoongAng Ilbo, Korean prostitution is becoming a social problem in the United States, and this in turn has led to increased anti-Korean feeling in the country. On June 30 of 2005, a 400-man joint FBI-Department of Homeland Security-police task force arrested 192 Koreans, including 150 women accused of prostitution, in Los Angeles and San Francisco. When local broadcasters, including NBC, reported on the arrests, on screen was the Korean flag (!). This year, there were a string of arrests of suspected prostitutes in Korean neighborhoods in New York and Virginia. An LAPD official said some 70-80 prostitutes were arrested every month, and 90 percent of them were Korean.

[Kiki]

Poor Anon
Take care of yourself..

[scorpio14]

Thanks Anon for your effort in sharing this info. It served quite an eye opener to me. My husband is korean and he told me a few things that go around korea regarding prostitution.

I really never expected prostitution to be very casual and open here in korea compared to my country (Philippines). We all know it may seem very ironic, because we are a christian country, yet we believe in the free will and that women sell their bodies because of poverty.

As far as I know, Korea is considered as one of the technical advanced countries .... esp here in Asia. it really must be very shallow to come up with an idea to sell your body just to buy designer clothes or have your face redone.

I have had issues with my mother-in-law regarding certain rules that need to be strictly followed around the household and as my duty as a wife and daugher-in-law. I am now very aware how much koreans still believe and live with the Confucian conservative way of living. i was hoping that every household lived by it....therefore I was expecting a really more conservative society here in Korea compared to ours.

I really just don't get it. i don't see too many starving women here.

Maybe they are just generally horny just like the men. must be perhaps in the food they eat.:-)

[Robin]

Anon,
I understand from your post info that you are from Japan. Is that right? Well, I think it is not at all acceptable that a Japanese man is judgeing Korean men. Listen, your country has been forcing Korean women to be sex slaves for your soldiers during the occupation time until the end of WW 2. Hey, who do you think you are that you can post this in the internet. How about posting about Japan??? In fact I am a foreigner in Korea and live here for over 7 years. yes, some of the informations are correct. And yes the Koreans have some strange ways how to buy sex. But on the other side they pay a lot and get little. Compared to other Asian countries and most of Europe and USA the Koreans pay min. approx. double the price then what men from other countries pay. Maybe that shows how much they appreciate the service. Additional they usually handle the women with respect. That is, compared to japan really different. Japan the country where men get turned on by watching porns which show how women get raped and where man usually get turned on by minors with school uniforms! As a man from Japan you are the leased who should talk about Korea and their habbits. If you want to be taken seriouse then post informations about japan as well. besides: Someone who doesn't has experianced it himself should better get first hand information before he makes statements. Frankly speaking you sound like a barking dog. maybe you are so ugly that even the Korean prostitues neglected you. Right? And now you need to do those postings to work on your frustration?

To scorpio: The really sad thing here in Korea is the numbre of Vietnam girls been married by Korean farmes and brought to the counrty without understanding the culture and the language. Those girls suffer a lot and get treated really bad by their mothers in law. I guess you have been reading the story in the news paper this spring about the girl which fell of the roof and died ... that is a problem. Not the Korean ladies who sell sex for extra money. Take the girls in the Lady bar in Itaewon. They just drink and talk with the guys without having sex and make 3-4000 US$ a month in avarage. Hello! That's a hell a lot of money for a lady with an avarage education and does nothing else then smile and be friendly to a stranger.

[scorpio14]

Robin,
Yes I have read the news about foreign (asian) women married to korean men and about how they were treated by their in-laws.

I have been through the same thing, but mine is a much milder case. When I came to Korea for the first time to visit my fiance last summer to meet his family, everything seemed very fine. But after we got married and after I have moved with my husband and his mother and elder brother... things changed after a few months.

It must have been the language and cultural barrier that brought too much conflict between me and my mother in law. She also expected me to do things which I hardly understand and I guessed also ... because of her age (70+)... she's seeking more attention from my husband. if i attend more to my husband's needs ... it would make her angry. i must really admit that i was also struggling with the language and she keeps on comparing me to the foreign women who have mastered the language within 3 months. my husband speaks excellent english, so maybe that is the reason why i don't exert much effort in learning the korean language. what mattered to me was that I am able to communicate well with my husband ... not with my in-laws.

I lived with them for less than 6 months. I begged my husband to send me back home because his relationship with his mother got a lot worse because of my presence. i told him that I will return after he is done resolving his conflict with his mother and after he is ready to move out and look for a separate place for us to live.

Fortunately we were able to move to their old house which is just a few minutes away from my mother in laws apartment I have never felt so free and peaceful and my relationship with my husband just got better everyday.

I believe that I am very lucky and blessed that I got married to a good korean man. he has an open mind and he is therefore not the conventional type. i totally agree that communication is the key ....

I even have a filipina friend who is having a hard time with her husband. the problem?- language gap. her husband is not good with english and she is also quite slow with the korean language. she ended up being physically abused because they could not understand one another. it's really a sad truth ... harsh reality.

As for the women selling their bodies ... money does not choose jobs. if it is their way of fulfulling their physical needs ... then let's just let it be.

Anon,
I agree what Robin said ... don't be too judgemental. tell us something more about japanese women too. i am also aware that japanese are just as hungry with sex as their other asian counterparts.

[Anon]

Scorpio14, I'm not Japanese. In fact, I have accused practically all asian groups, excluding chinese, of widespread sex trade industries. Read my another thread and... don't be too judgmental.

[Robin]

Anon,
Hdo you want to be the teacher of all of us??? What is your problem? Maybe relax a bit. To be and let be ... everyone is responsible for himself and I would suggest you to clean up in front of your own doors first.(hope you get what I mean!)

[Robin]

Scorpio,
It is great to read your reply and I am very happy to hear about your reality. I wish you and your husband all the best!

[scorpio14]

Robin,

Thanks for your comment. It is really nice for you to say that. I've hard my hard times here in Korea but I am going through it well with my husband's help.

Anon,

I don't understand your hatred towards the asian race and their involvement with the sex industry. There's not much difference with the other races who are so preoccupied with making and selling porn. Won't you consider it widespread as well?

[Robin]

I do agree with scorpio even I am not Asian. Besides Anon: Why do so many caucasian men travel to Asia each year for nothing else then sex? Sex Tourism in total counts more Western men then the Korean men who have sex in Korea with prostitueds. I guess the whole thing with you is that you regret not to be a part of it. Or maybe you are???

[gaeguri]

Robin, you are very obviously Korean. Your English is full of the same mistakes that Korean speakers of English make regularly.

And I'm sorry, but if you think more Western men than Korean men are having paid-for sex in Korea, you're deluded. That would be logistically impossible. There aren't even enough Western men *in* Korea to have more sex with prostitutes than Korean men have.

And by the way, there are plenty of Korean men going to Southeast Asia for sex tourism. Until you can post some statistics otherwise, I'll just note that prostitution and business are openly linked in Korean society -- the crackdown on prostitution actually brought about protests from businesses complaining, "Now how are we going to entertain visiting business partners and clients?" So I'll have a very hard time believing that Korean men traveling abroad have very different attitudes towards prostitution than they have at home.

Scorpio & Robin: why interpret Anon as being hateful? His or her posts have been mostly factual, with very little angry or nasty language. Is pointing out facts on a subject of concern so hateful? Seriously... these *are* indicators of the status of women in Korea. It's no coincidence that the status of women in Korea is near the bottom of the OECD countries. I hardly think pointing out important and troubling facts about a country's attitudes towards women and sex is hateful.