Tour company pimping divorcees, widows for Japanese tourists

Police have busted a famous Korean travel agency for arranging sexual services for Japanese tourists visiting Korea.

Seoul’s finest booked 29 employees of “H” travel agency, two club employees and eight women on charges of violating Korea’s anti-prostitution laws.

In particular, the travel agency got together with a particular club to create a tour package designed for Japanese males with special needs. On March 2, 2004, the crew reportedly arranged a meeting between some 30 Japanese tourists and local women at a hotel in Itaewon. This was apparently lucrative, because the company allegedly arranged about 750 similar meetings between March 2004 and September of this year, earning some 300 million won in the process.

Each Japanese tourist paid about 40,000 yen (around 400,000 won) for the sexual services. Half of this went to the girl providing said services. Some 25 percent went to the tour company, 12.5 percent to the tour guide and the remaining 12.5 percent to the club.

Of course, the tourist agency was careful not to use the term “sex tourism,” using instead the terms “karaoke option” or “show club option” in its tourist literature distributed in Japan.

Most of the women were divorcees or widows in their 30 or 40s (400,000 won for divorcees in their 40s. Now that really is criminal). They got sucked into prostitution, said Yonhap, because the men were foreigners, so there was no danger of them accidentally getting caught or seen by people they know.

That’s probably something they should put in brothel/escort service recruitment ads.

Anyway, in order to draw more tourists, the company apparently charged the visiting Japanese only 80 percent of the actual costs. The company made up the remaining 20 percent through shopping and prostitution deals. Also, in order to motivate guides to encourage customers to go with the “option,” the company would intentionally place guides who weren’t selling enough “options” with low-tipping tour groups.

Police have received information that other tour companies and clubs are engaged in the same practice and are expanding their investigation.