According to statistics of the National Police Agency, there were 1,679
red-light districts around the country as of September 2004, with the sex shops
employing about 5,500 prostitutes.
As of May this year, the number of red-light districts was 1,097, with about
2,660 prostitutes working in brothels.
In Seoul, existing red-light districts in Yongsan, Chongnyangni, Chongam-dong
and other areas are expected to be cleared up next year through new urban
development plans.
Since the adoption of the anti-prostitution law, police have charged more than
40,000 brothel owners, pimps, prostitutes and customers.
``Although some of the brothels that went under because of the strengthened
police crackdown at the start are reopening, the number of shops and
prostitutes have dropped significantly, as has the number of customers,'' said
Sgt. Yang Sang-mo at the National Police Agency's women and juvenile affairs
division.
However, skeptics argue that the strengthened crackdown on prostitution opened
the doors to other venues for the sex industry with which law enforcement
authorities find harder to deal.
According to a survey earlier this year by the Korean Institute for
Criminology, more than 60 percent of the 450 adult males who said they bought
sex in the past year said they used massage parlors, which are quickly becoming
the center of the underground sex trade.
Numbers released by the Financial Supervisory Service show that credit card
spending at massage parlors rose 23 percent year-on-year in 2005.
Illegal sex transactions are also frequent at bars, hotels and even private
homes, according to police, with pimps sending out prostitutes disguised as
masseuses.
Internet dating services that connect prostitutes, and sometimes even teenaged
girls, with sex buyers are also a problem.
The police charged more than 3,300 people for engaging in the Internet-based
sex trade in a crackdown this summer, which accounted for more than 22 percent
of the sex offenders caught during the period.
Last week, the police detained 25 prostitutes, pimps and Japanese tourists in a
crackdown on Internet-based sex rings.
There are also worries that an increasing number of Korean women are being
lured into trafficking rings and forced to participate in commercial sex
services overseas.
Last year, about 60 people were arrested in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los
Angeles on charges of smuggling Korean women into the country and forcing them
to work as prostitutes at massage parlors and other businesses.
``Although most people now accept that selling and buying sex is a criminal
offense, there is still a significant demand for sex. For brothel owners and
pimps, its just about finding an easier way to sell,'' said Kim Young-rahn, who
co-heads the civic group Naeil Women's Center for Youth.
The sex industry in 2004 accounted for over 4 percent of Korea's gross domestic product, according to a report by the Korean Institute for Criminology.
