Category: Prostitution

It took a few decades, but the New York Times discovered there was prostitutes in South Korea to worked in the villes outside of U.S. military bases decades ago. It must be a slow news day for the New York Times to rehash old news like this:

In Dongducheon, South Korea, north of Seoul, women forced to work as prostitutes to American soldiers in the decades after the Korean War were confined in this building when they were discovered to have a sexually transmitted disease. (NYT)

When Cho Soon-ok was 17 in 1977, three men kidnapped and sold her to a pimp in Dongducheon, a town north of Seoul.

She was about to begin high school, but instead of pursuing her dream of becoming a ballerina, she was forced to spend the next five years under the constant watch of her pimp, going to a nearby club for sex work. Her customers: American soldiers.

The euphemism “comfort women” typically describes Korean and other Asian women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese during World War II. But the sexual exploitation of another group of women continued in South Korea long after Japan’s colonial rule ended in 1945 — and it was facilitated by their own government.

There were “special comfort women units” for South Korean soldiers, and “comfort stations” for U.S.-led United Nations troops during the Korean War. In the postwar years, many of these women worked in gijichon, or “camp towns,” built around U.S. military bases.

New York Times

You can read more at the link, but the kidnapping of women to be sold to brothels back then was very rare. What mostly happened was that families sold their daughters to brothel owners to pay for tuition for their sons with the thought that the son will lift the family out of poverty after finding a good job. The “kidnapping” was just the brothel owners picking up the girl that was sold.

Overall the article is just a rehash of old information that can be read in many books about Korea. A good book to read about the club system is Seasons in the Kingdom by Tim Norris. It is also worth reading the comments at the attached link with many former GIs providing context about the women and the conditions they found themselves in back then.

By the way, I wonder if the New York Times is next going to do an article where in recent years they discover there was a “juicy girl” system outside of U.S. military bases as well?

The former police officer interviewed for the article believes budgetary constraints are stopping a crackdown on prostitution in South Korea; I think it is more like a lack of will of wanting to crackdown hard on it:

Prostitution is illegal in Korea. The country’s ban on the sex trade was introduced in March 2004 and went into effect later that year.

Despite nearly two decades of law enforcement, the nation still has brothels and red-light districts operating at night in almost all big cities and provinces, albeit at a somewhat diminished scale.

Before the introduction of the Special Law on Sex Trade in 2004, there were 35 red-light districts nationwide, according to figures compiled by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. The number declined to 15 in 2021. Gyeonggi Province has four, Seoul, Busan and other provincial cities have at least one or two each. About 900 women are involved in prostitution for a living in those areas, according to ministry data, although a far larger number of people are believed to be part of that profession in other parts of the country that operate under the radar of law enforcement.

Kim Kang-ja, a retired police officer best known for her role behind the crackdown of a major red-light district in Seoul when she was head of Jongam Police Station in the early 2000s, said the remaining red-light districts are a chilling reminder of a policy failure driven by budgetary constraints.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

I can only imagine how many people must have been exposed to the AIDS virus from this sex worker:

An illegal immigrant in her 40s, who worked at a massage parlor in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, was diagnosed with AIDS just days before she died of pneumonia and other complications April 3.

The woman was hospitalized March 26 and diagnosed with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) April 1, according to the public health centers in Pohang, Tuesday.

She reportedly visited Seoul and Busan for treatment. 

Police investigated the massage parlor and its customers. But health officials and police are struggling to establish how many people she had sexual contact with. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

I have a hard time seeing these sex robots causing a decrease in sex crimes and prostitution any time soon in South Korea, but some people think they will:

Sex robot “brothels” have emerged as a potentially lucrative business as sex doll manufacturers offer more sophisticated, individually tailored models, thanks to advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies.

With many shops that offer sex with these robots popping up in Europe and Canada, some technology pundits here are cautiously suggesting Korea may have to deal with this controversial issue in the near future.

Advocates say sex with robots can reduce the need for sex workers and help disabled people enjoy the same sexual pleasure as others do, in the privacy of their own room.

But opponents argue that sex robots cannot replace women and they will dehumanize the relationship between men and women.  (…………..)

Sex robots are banned from import to Korea. Under article 234 of the customs law, goods that disrupt the constitutional order, disturb public safety and order or corrupt morals shall not be exported or imported.

However, it is possible to purchase life-size sex dolls online here. Also, sex dolls made by local firms are available on the internet. While it is illegal to import or export sex dolls, there are no laws that forbid manufacturing and selling the dolls here.

While sex robots are still legally unavailable here, experts say possibilities are open for Korea to allow “robot prostitution.”

“The positive aspect of sex robots is that they will help decrease the number of women who sell sex illegally,” said Kang Dong-woo, director at the Korean Institute for Sexual and Couple’s Health (KISCH). The KISCH is a private clinic for sex counseling in Seoul.

“It is no secret that there are many men who use prostitution services. Prostitution is available everywhere here through the internet. In such circumstances, I think chances are open for the country to introduce robot prostitution in the near future as it can reduce sex crimes and illegal prostitution,” Kang said.   [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

Another year and yet another article claiming the at Filipinas working in bars in South Korea were tricked into working there.  In today’s age of the Internet a simple Google search can inform Filipinas what they are potentially signing up for by applying for one of these visas.  What is ironic this article from the Korea Times is very similar to one written in 2012 by the Korea Times and they are still saying these girls don’t know what they are getting into coming to South Korea on these visas:

Bargirls, mostly Filipinas, working in the entertainment district near United States Forces Korea’s Camp Casey in Dongducheon hardly go a day without alcohol. With bars opening after 6 p.m. and not closing until the last patrons leave, usually in the early morning, the girls treat customers to whatever they want ― from canoodling and lap dancing to oral sex. Some customers suggest heading out for the night-off, which is not so good for the girls, but good for the bar owners because a customer must pay a bar fine to take out a bargirl.

These migrant women’s desperate business depends on about 2,000 soldiers from the camp, about 60 kilometers north of Seoul. The soldiers’ curfew is 11:30 p.m., previously 1:00 a.m. When they return to camp, migrant workers replace them, but there are not so many.

Job agencies have told the bargirls, working with a Hotel and Adult Entertainment Visa, or E-6-2 visa, they would find work as singers, with most of the girls unaware they would end up in red light bars.

“There are about 200 foreigners in prostitution working at some 70 clubs in Dongducheon,” Joyce Kim from Durebang, a NGO dedicated to helping bargirls working near USFK camps, told The Korea Times. Having watched over the migrants for more than five years, she said bargirls, some of whom are Russians, live above the bars with only one day off every month. The visa allows them to stay in Korea for two years if they do not quit and keep their working contracts valid.

The bars are owned and managed by Koreans, who do not hesitate to threaten the girls and push them to earn more money, forcing them to work through until as late as 10 a.m. This affects their girls’ health, including their menstruation cycle.

Bargirls are paid based on a monthly quota. All Dongducheon bars use this system, which requires the bargirls to collect 300-350 points every two weeks.

“Otherwise the bar owners cannot earn enough,” Kim said. “Owners use points to humiliate the girls with poor sales records by comparing them to girls who earn more points.”

The system works like this: a $10 glass of “juice” that a girl sells to patrons is worth one point. To complete the quota, each girl must sell $3,000-$3,500 worth of juice in two weeks. If girls reach their quota, they get paid a bonus called “drink back” worth around $300-$350 in addition to their regular monthly wage of 400,000 won ($354).   [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but every USFK soldier knows that participating in prostitution is illegal and has extreme consequences if caught.  This is not a USFK problem, this is a South Korea problem.  If South Korea really wants to stop the human trafficking of Filipinas they should just end the entertainment visas for them.

This is ruling about prostitution outside US military bases is nothing new and widely known for decades throughout Korea:

A court issued a first-ever ruling acknowledging that the Republic of Korea actively justified or encouraged prostitution with the operation of US “military camp towns” for the sake of the military alliance and foreign currency acquisition.“In regarding the right to sexual self-determination of the women in the camp town and the very character of the plaintiffs as represented through their sexuality as means of achieving state goals, the state violated its obligation to respect human rights,” the court concluded, ordering the payment of compensation to all 117 plaintiffs.

Hon. Judge Lee Beom-gyun of Seoul High Court’s 22nd civil affairs division ruled on Feb. 8 in the case filed by 117 former military camp town prostitutes to demand damages from the state, which was ordered to pay compensation of 7 million won (US$6,370) to 74 of the plaintiffs and 3 million won (US$2,730) to the remaining 43.“According to official Ministry of Health and Welfare documents, [the state] actively encouraged the women in the military camp towns engage in prostitution to allow foreign troops to ‘relax’ and ‘enjoy sexual services’ with them,” the court said.“In the process, [the state] operated and managed the military camp towns with the intention or purpose of contributing to maintenance of a military alliance essential for national security by ‘promoting and boosting morale’ among foreign troops while mobilizing prostitutes for economic goals such as acquisition of foreign currency,” it ruled.  [Hankyoreh]

You can read more at the link, but there is some nuance to the ruling in favor of the prostitutes to worked outside of US military base. The court did not find the government liable for forcing them into prostitution, just managing it by forcing them into medical treatment:

But the court did not accept the plaintiffs’ claim that the state had also violated the law by establishing the base village in the first time “to allow prostitution to take place easily.”“It is impossible to conclude that the victims were in a situation where they did not begin engaging in prostitution within the area of their own free will or could not leave,” the court said.  [Hankyoreh]

This is important because if the government was found to have forced these women into prostitution than that would allow the Japanese right to say that the ROK government should stop complaining about World War II era comfort women when they had their own comfort women system going.  This is technically correct because the ROK government was not grabbing women out of their homes and putting them into clubs.

Many of the prostitutes came from poor families who sold their daughters to the club owners to make ends meet or put a son through college for example.  Other became prostitutes in the hope of marrying a GI to escape poverty.  However, they ended up in the club system they were effectively managed by the Korean government to not spread disease.  They were forcibly given STD treatments and those that were found to be diseased were then forcibly interned.  This is where the human rights violations come into play for these women by the state.

Something to keep in mind is that the US military bases were not the only locations with prostitutes.  Can prostitutes stationed outside ROK Army bases or even in urban red light districts now sue for damages as well?  What about the women brought in from the Philippines beginning in the 1990’s that were forced into prostitution?  Can they sue for damages as well?

Here is what one Australian Army officer thinks should be done to increase morale for troops overseas:

An Australian army captain currently serving in the Middle East has written an opinion piece requesting the defence forces allow sex workers to help soldiers ‘relieve stress’

Captain Sally Williamson wrote the article for the Land Power Forum, a website run by the Australian military giving past and present servicemen and women a chance to express their thoughts and offer ideas.

Capt. Williamson posted the story, titled ‘Sex And War – A Conversation Army Has To Have’, in early November but it was removed days later after fierce scrutiny.

‘Opinions on the subject will undoubtedly vary, but the conversation about sexual activism and regulation on deployment is worth having,’ the since-deleted post reads.  (…..)

She begins the story by referencing past instances of the sex industry successfully integrating with armed forces and believes the ‘Army could contract Australian male and female sex workers to service troops in forward operating bases and air bases.’  (…..)

‘Another option the ADF could consider is facilitating safe and regulated sexual satisfaction through other means such as providing masturbation facilities or issuing sex toys,’ she wrote.  [Daily Mail]

You can read more at the link.

A journal from Duke University’s East Asia studies department has an article published that describes South Korea’s “Tenpro” prostitution culture:

Tenpro (Koran for “ten percent”) are a special kind of sex worker conceptually defined and imagined as women who are intellectually and aesthetically in the top ten percentile of all women, similar in concept to a high-end escort of the United States. Because of the exclusivity and secrecy that surrounds these exceptionally beautiful tenpros, this glamorous business had been veiled from the eyes of the general public. Only recently, with the spread of this business practice and heightened interest in this topic, a few former tenpros like Mihee have released detailed first-hand accounts of their lives.

According to a research conducted by the Korean Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, an average of 49 Korean men out of 100 are predicted to have had used some sort of sexual service, despite the fact that prostitution is illegal in Korea. Additionally,  research conducted by the Korean Women’s Development Institute indicates that prostitution amounts to approximately 1.6 percent of Korea’s GDP, or 13 billion US dollars. When we compare this figure to that of America’s, which is currently estimated to be 14 billion dollars, or less than 0.1 percent of its GDP, we see that an average Korean man spends 16 times more than their American counterparts on sexual services.   [Duke East Asia Nexux]

You can read the rest at the link, but the article concludes by stating that high end prostitution services in Korea is so popular because it is a status symbol for the well off to flaunt their wealth to their peers by affording “Tenpro” girls.

But, but… comfort women… https://t.co/ECPVIuxapG

— KingSejong (@KingSejong) August 19, 2017

A group of Thai women were recently rescued in Busan after a supermarket worker tipped off police:

A Thai woman’s wits have led to her rescue and that of four others from a brothel in South Korea.

The Busan Metropolitan Police Agency revealed the case on Wednesday.

The incident started when the five women visited a Busan supermarket on May 16 under the “guidance” of a Korean man.

The women were regular customers who visited late at night to buy daily necessities.

On May 16, the women bought products while the Korean man stood just outside the supermarket. But something unusual happened when they paid the bill.

As one of the women extended her cash-filled hand to the casher, he realized there was more there than he expected — a hand-written SOS message hidden inside the cash.

“Help the police. I was caught in the fourth floor of the building,” read the note in English, Korean and Thai.  [Korea Times]

You can read the rest at the link, but it seems like the police in Busan were not to motivated to find these women.