Marvin Wiegginns,
31 Primorski Blvd Varna,
Varna 9000
Bulgaria
Last updated: October 13, 2010
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_in_South_Korea
Prostitution in South Korea is an illegal industry, but According to The Korea Women's development Institute, the sex trade in Korea was estimated to amount to 14 trillion Korean 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.
With the end of the era of Korea under Japanese rule in 1945 following the Japanese surrender to US forces, 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 enforced.
From the 1960s through the 1980s, the Korean government involved in the prostitution for the United States soldiers in camp town surrounding the base. The government sponsored classes for prostitutes in basic English and etiquette to help them sell themselves more effectively and urged them to sell as much as possible to the G.I.?s. The government registered them and required them to carry medical certification and the Korean police detained the prostitutes who were thought to be ill to prevent epidemics of sexually transmitted diseases. These government's involvement was motivated in part by fears that the American military which protected South Korea from North Korea would leave.
In 2003, the Korean Institute of Criminology announced that 260,000 women, or 1 of 25 of young Korean women, may be engaged in the sex industry. However, the Korean Feminist Association alleged that from 514,000 to 1.2 million Korean women participate in the prostitution industry. In addition, a similar report by the Institute noted that 20% of men in their 20s pay for sex at least four times a month, with 358,000 visiting prostitutes daily.
In 2004, The South Korean government passed an anti-prostitution law, prohibition of prostitution in South Korea, made it illegal to buy or sell women. South Korea brought in a tough anti-prostitution law in 2004, punishing clients with fines and throwing pimps in prison. In 2007, courts prosecuted 35,000 clients, 2.5 times higher than the number of those who were caught buying sex in 2003.
In 2006, The Ministry for Gender Equality, in an attempt to address the issue of demand for prostitutes, 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.
Index of articles, click here.
Marvin Wiegginns,
31 Primorski Blvd Varna,
Varna 9000
Bulgaria
Last updated: October 13, 2010