Intent on creating a fun-free world, Ye Olde Chosun ends its war against public drunkeness and begins a new one against another vice—Korea’s “export” of prostitution.
To sum up—Korea exports a lot of prostitutes to America. Didn’t know about the dozens of Korean prostitutes who got lost for several days in Glacier National Park trying to smuggle themselves into the United States in 2005, though. They eventually got picked up by Border Patrol (who, thankfully, weren’t blowing each other at Cirque du Soleil this time), but they were badly bitten by mosquitoes. Anyway, a Korean in LA said because of this, while South and Central America is seen by the media as the source of drugs, Korea is the source of illicite massage girls.
Korean prostitution has been perhaps an even bigger problem in Australia, where it has caused something of a diplomatic dispute and Korean diplomats have written Sydney mayors asking them to “dob in” Korean working girls. A white guy in Australia was also killed trying to “rescue” a Korean prostitute and another prostitute was set alight in Sydney by a spurned john. The Korean government asked Hojustan to strengthen its visa screenings of Korean women (I wonder how many governments ask foreign states to get tougher with their citizens), but it’s students wishing to study abroad who are paying the price.
Apparently lots of working girls in Japan, too, thanks to stength of the yen and the fact that Koreans can stay 90 days without a visa. According to the Chosun, you can find many Korean girls working as “delivery health” (where the eff do the Japanese come up with these terms?) providers in Tokyo’s love hotel district.
Interestingly, while some Korean gangs sending girls to Japan have been busted, Korean working girls in Japan have almost never been arrested since they look like Japanese girls and are working under the protection of Japanese crime organizations.
You’ve got a growing number of Korean college girls doing part-time work in the entertainment establishments of Shanghai, too.
Christ, you’ve even got Korean massage joints in American movies (“Couple’s Retreat,” “Hall Pass”) and CSI!
Mind you, it’s not just girls going abroad (although there’s a lot of them, too—a 2010 Ministry of Gender Equality report estimates the number of Korean working girls abroad at 100,000, with 50,000 in Japan alone, and Korea is believed to provide the largest number of prostitutes to the United States, followed by Thailand, Peru and Mexico). It’s guys going abroad and bringing their nighttime entertainment culture with them. Lots of Korean-style brothels popping up throughout Asia, including Russia and Uzbekistan, where, as the Chosun points out, Korean guys wanting to meet white chicks go.
I bet the do-gooders at the Ministry of Gender of Equality weren’t counting on this when the Special Law on Prostitution got passed in 2004.
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“Intent on creating a fun-free world, Ye Olde Chosun ends its war against public drunkeness and begins a new one against another vice—Korea’s “export” of prostitution.”
I wonder how fun a prostitute thinks her world is?
Korea exports the most prostitutes, Seoul is saturated with sex parlors, major streets are littered with fliers soliciting sex, and Korean men have the highest infidelity rate in the world… BUT the shocking truth is that foreigners like to pick-up Korean girls at clubs!
Not really the point. People are going to want to get drunk, get high and get laid. And people are going to provide those services. Outlawing prostitution is particularly baffling, since you’re perfectly free to provide that service for free.
Is “exporting” prostitution embarrassing? Probably. But would it be the problem it is had not the government tried to “save” these women by outlawing their profession in the first place?
To be fair to the Chosun, though, I don’t believe they supported the 2004 Special Law.
At least they’re not projecting social problems onto foreigners. The interesting question is – why has this industry developed a comparative advantage? Normally one would think that Korean standards of living and wages would be too high to develop a competitive edge in that area. So, what’s going on? Are women’s wages in other professions artificially depressed? One would actually expect that women would shy away from this profession in a country with traditional Confucian values. But evidently not. Or, maybe these service ‘exports’ are the result of the crackdown in red light districts that took place a few years ago.
Visa-free entry + low BMI + drug-free = competitive advantage
Yes, but how is the market for gigolos with medium-sized codgers Robert? I’ve been considering a career change, but the Kenyans seem to have cornered the market.
+ white-man-asian-girl-fetish
from wikipedia:
A Los Angeles police spokesman said that about 90 percent of the department’s 70-80 monthly arrests for prostitution involve Korean women and Los Angeles police estimates that there are 8,000 Korean prostitutes working in that city and its suburbs. Korean women`s customers in foreign countries are mostly Korean men.
Well Sonagi, the article reported that the prostitutes were hiking across the Rockies to infiltrate the border. Maybe you mean visa free status into Canada.
Thailand, Mexico and Peru have much lower wages than Korea. Mexico has more immigrants in the US than Korea. I’d be interested to see estimates on prostitution ‘consumption’ per country as a share of GDP, to see where Korea is.
Interesting, as the market seems to have started the opposite way, with “noraebangs” etc being set up with korean girls to give korean business men an outlet without having to engage with furriners.
I don’t see what the big deal is. Korean men want to continue thinking of women as commodities….
I recently found out that one of the worst students I ever taught (not mean – just 나리리 all the way and no interest in studying whatsoever) was living in Australia. At first I thought wow, that’s amazing that she of all people would move to a foreign country … then it ocurred to me, oh crap, what else would a 20-year-old Korean woman with no job skills or English be doing in Australia?
I don’t think Korea’s domestic prostitution laws are affecting the export business that much. There just aren’t a lot of jobs for young women, even educated ones, that would allow them to live without the support of, and thereby control by, family.
The incident happened in 2005 when Koreans could enter Canada visa-free, but not the US, which did not add Korea to its VWP until three years later.
Another main factor behind the large domestic prostitution industry is probably a permissive legal framework. As I remember there was that ‘crackdown’ on red light districts a few years ago. Yet there are still many danlamjujums operating from what I can see. Maybe the law was mostly cosmetic.
Which raises another interesting question: why the permissive laws (or lack of enforcement)? Prostitution had been seen as a means of class exploitation – basically men with means taking advantage of women from poor families. One of the Communist Parties first reforms in China (and I assume N Korea) was to crack down on prostitution and drug abuse. Park Chung Hee was probably moved by cold war competition to adopt similar populist measures in the south, and supported land reform and supression of drugs. Yet the prostitution industry remained. For what purpose? I can see how leftists would blame the US military. It’s an interesting question.
A large legally sanctioned prostitution industry would also serve the interests of the S Korean military as well. Korea’s overgrown prostitution industry, then, is likely one of legacies of military rule. It’s now become part of the culture.
Interesting that what they’re saying is “Prostitution at home is fine. Carry on, everyone! Just keep it discreet in foreign countries so that people don’t start noticing certain embarrassing facts about us.”
In other words, as long as its only exported prostitution they’re concerned about this attack by the Chosun Ilbo is completely morally unprincipled.
It’s been 8 years since that anti prostitution law passed. One would think that most of the prostitutes tossed out of work then would be out of the business now. So, I’m betting that the law was mostly cosmetic. The Chosun really needs to ask why there is such a large domestic supply of this service if they want to understand their export ‘problem.’
When Koreans want something (cash etc) they seem very willing to give their body to be used – to get what they want.
the sad thing is, they learn this from a very young age, which is why we hear in the news about Korean “young teenagers” who were discovered selling their bodies.
As it seems part of the culture, It also makes me not believe the “comfort women” did what they did of their own free will.
Without pointing to a specific newspaper or specific hotel for legal reasons, I suggest the hypocrisy might go deeper:
http://tvpot.daum.net/clip/ClipView.do?clipid=10015936
See also here.
Sex trade workers won a victory at the Ontario Supreme Court – at least these whores pretend to be honest, unlike the government ones.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/03/26/ontario-appeal-court-sex-trade-laws-monday.html
That is a pretty broad generalization. Maybe you should reconsider how stupid that sounds.
Although I have nothing against working girls who work voluntarily and are not forced to sell themselves, reports and news like this make me very sad. From all the countries in the world, why does my beloved Korea have to do so “well” in this field? Why? *sigh*
Heh. Delivery health. My mailbox would get 2-3 delivery health/massagy flyers every day in ol’ Tokyo.
“Interestingly, while some Korean gangs sending girls to Japan have been busted, Korean working girls in Japan have almost never been arrested since they look like Japanese girls and are working under the protection of Japanese crime organizations”
They haven’t been arrested because deli health is 100% legal in Japan as long as there is no penetration (with or without yakuza involved). You may get busted only if you cross that line.
Living in Sydney I can confirm that astronomical amounts of Korean prostitutes are here. Worst thing is since ‘fob’ chicks hang out with eachother you’ve got Aussie Korean girls joining the work force with their ‘nunadeul’.
With the working holiday visa you’ve got 2 years of easy work in Australia where its legal. I always felt bad for the Korean guy back in Seoul that will end up marrying one of these.
I havn’t met any Korean girls that have said they’ve been to Australia whilst on my holiday in Korea. But if she was hot and said shes been to Australia my mind would be full of suspicion.
Another interesting scene here in Sydney is the number of korean hookers that come after work to day clubs (open after 4am). Amusing to see unaware guys hit on em and hook up even considering what they did for about 10hrs. Over here although they wear condoms majority of the time, bjs are provided bare back. Im assuming another Korean cultural thing.
and where are the abundant parlours in Korea? never did i walk around Seoul and notice a brothel. Over here they are lit up bright with neon signs with the Street number.
ty men
@25 “and where are the abundant parlours in Korea?”
Cheongnyangni 588, Yongsan, etc.
But don’t be surprised you haven’t seen them, it’s not on Robert’s or KTO’s guides and foreigners aren’t really welcome there anyway.
SeoulFinn, not all of these women do sex work because they want to. Quite a few are forced to work off loans for themselves or their family and those loans are to gang organizations that have connections with spas (like in my neighborhood) so they gang forces them to sell their bodies and works on the women’s self esteem – which is already low. What I have seen and heard first hand has opened my eyes to the reality that is hidden here and what is hidden is that prostitution does create many victims.
Meanwhile there are also so many Christians here in Korea who are quick to talk about Christ but do nothing about this sort of suffering and problem. Recently, the “Christians” I have dealt with were more concerned with the use of the Sanshin figure in a script since that was not their Jesus some heathen Korean god. I would like to think that they care but they never mention these women – only their Jesus. I would guess that thinking of Jesus is easier than helping those women.
Personally, I have learned to temper my respect for people with more than a little wariness.
In fact, I would say a tiny, tiny minority of women do sex work because they want to, and their presence is conveniently overblown to assuage men’s guilty conscience.
Whenever people say something like “do nothing about,” it is safe to say they simply did not look very hard. Plenty of Christians in Korea do quite a bit about the plight of sex workers, Elgin.
There are so many Korean prostitutes abroad. The Korean government must make a big effort to solve this problem. Sex traffickers should get life in jail, and serious sex traffickers should be considered for the death penalty.
“The Korean government must make a big effort to solve this problem. ”
You don’t put your best friends in jail…
“thekorean” they seem to hide it from me then.
I have tried to help though I won’t say more than that.
A big chunk of the prostitutes abroad including most of the Korean brothels in New York, are actually ethnic Koreans from China, says this ethnic Korean Chinese paper.
http://yanbian.moyiza.com/87509
Bad couple of months for the Joseonjok.
Korean government must legalize prostitution. It’s the only choice if you want to stop Korean women from becoming prostitutes and degrading the image of Koreans in other countries. Many westerners stereotype Koreans as prostitutes and whores because there are so many Korean prostitutes in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Asia, etc.
Prostitution is legal here in Aus and from what I know it costs a hefty fee for a brothel license which would be good for state income.
Should Korea simply legalise it? or should it be monitored and taxed properly as a sin tax?
Are there any countries in the world that operates a properly well run legal prostitution system? How much money does the government rake in? Anyone know the figure for Aus? We’ve got so much sin tax here with 25$ cigarettes, legalised prostitution and most of all HEFTY HEFTY driving fines!
Tell us more about this, Elgin! either here or in a fresh post…. I have all my own similar struggles with media and govmt.
“Sanshinseon”, it is the same tale as yours. Certain people in management positions turn out to be devout
ignorantChristians who become alarmed at the mere mention of some Korean mountain god and feel they have to promote their Jesus at all costs, thus they retaliate by insisting that references to such are not good or they say they just don’t like the project. I guess we should have injected a little bit of Jesus in there to activate their taste buds.I honestly think that Korean-style Christianity is one of the biggest modern curses upon this society, considering the corruption of values and thinking it has engendered, but then, we were discussing the cultural tolerance for prostitution – Jesus help the women here since Christians can’t but instead promote their Christian etiquette when they feel by the spirit.
I suspect very few people do work because they want to. The point is do they do it against their will.
So easy to find all these brothels in SF, but these crooked cities/police turn the other cheek.
Mine as well just make it legal.
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