C S E C The Commercial Sexual
Exploitation of Children In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/childprostitution/SouthKorea.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the
situation in HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of child prostitution are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring how children got started, how they survive, and
how some succeed in leaving. Perhaps
your paper could focus on runaways and the abuse that led to their
leaving. Other factors of interest
might be poverty, rejection, drug dependence, coercion, violence, addiction,
hunger, neglect, etc. On the other hand,
you might choose to write about the manipulative and dangerous adults who
control this activity. There is a lot
to the subject of Child Prostitution.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. HELP for Victims International Organization for
Migration ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** NGO Warns Of Spread
Of 'Enjo Kosai' In Asia Yoshimi Nagamine, Yomiuri Shimbun, May 5, 2004 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 24 July
2011] In South Korea, 222
girls aged 18 or younger were arrested for enjo kosai in 2000, and 63 percent of them were 16 or
under. Although ***
ARCHIVES *** ECPAT (617)
394-1329, Regional Overview: The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of
Children in East and South-East Asia [PDF] ECPAT International,
November 2014 [accessed 8
September 2020] Maps sexual
exploitation of children in travel and tourism (SECTT), online child sexual
exploitation (OCSE), trafficking of children for sexual purposes, sexual
exploitation of children through prostitution, and child early and forced
marriage (CEFM). Other topics include poverty and inequality, migration,
armed conflicts, natural disasters and displacement, and traditional
practices. Human
Rights Reports » 2019 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 10, 2020 www.state.gov/reports/2019-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/south-korea/ [accessed 8
September 2020] SEXUAL
EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN - The age of consent is 13. It is illegal to deceive or
pressure anyone younger than 19 into having sexual intercourse. In July a law
went into effect penalizing adults who have sexual intercourse with teenagers
between ages 13 and 16 by taking advantage of mental, physical, or financial
difficulties, regardless of whether the minor consented. The penalty for rape
of a minor younger than age 13 ranges from 10 years to life in prison; the
penalty for rape of a minor age 13 to under 19 is five years’ to life
imprisonment. Other penalties include electronic monitoring of offenders,
public release of their personal information, and reversible hormone
treatment. The law prohibits the commercialization of child pornography.
Offenders convicted of producing or possessing child pornography materials
for the purpose of selling, leasing, or distributing for profit are subject
to a maximum of seven years’ imprisonment. In addition anyone who possesses
child pornography may be fined up to 20 million won ($16,600). During the year,
the criminal appeals court of the Seoul Central District Court came under
fire for sentencing the operator of a dark-web child pornography website, Son
Jong-woo, to only 18 months in prison. In October authorities from 38
countries arrested more than 330 users of the website, including 223 South
Koreans. In March 2018 the trial court suspended the 18-month sentence,
saying Son had “acknowledged his crime and reflected on his wrongdoing.” The
appeals court overruled the trial court suspension, calling it too light and
reinstated the sentence of 18 months’ imprisonment. These decisions
highlighted the light sentences, a fine or suspended sentence, typically
given to those convicted of viewing child pornography. For example, in
January courts ordered a defendant to pay a fine of three million won
($2,490) for downloading child pornography 968 times during a 10-month
period. The court stated that it “took into consideration the fact that it
was a first-time offense and that the defendant was sorry for what he had
done.” Children,
especially runaway girls, were vulnerable to sex trafficking, including
through online recruitment. Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 31 January 2003 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/korea2003.html [accessed 23 December
2010] [54] The Committee
welcomes the enactment in 2000 of the Juvenile Protection Act, which aims to
penalize those purchasing sexual services from children. However, the
Committee is concerned that this Act is not being effectively implemented, and
that there is limited data available on the prevalence of child sexual
exploitation. It is also concerned at reports of the widespread phenomenon of
"Wonjokyuje" in which adolescent girls
engage in a sexual relationship with older men for money. Kang Shin-who, The
Korea Times, 2007-09-13 www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/10/113_10113.html [accessed 24 July
2011] An Indonesian
government leader has asked Koreans to show respect to her nation, referring
to foreigners reportedly using child prostitutes in ``We hope to have a
dignified relationship with Korea and want Korean people to respect
Indonesia. There are many foreigners who look for child prostitution in Bali,
although having sex with children is subject to severe punishment,’’ the
minister said in an interview with The Korea Times Wednesday. The minister’s remarks indicate that the
Indonesian government wants to prevent sex trade in the country by asking
other countries to take a more active role, instead of his country metering
out severe punishment to sex tourists.
Child sex traders or abusers can be sentenced to a maximum 15 years in
prison in Indonesia, but the country is rather lenient on foreigners as it is
concerned that the strict control of foreigners would damage the tourism
business. Kang Shin-who, Asian
Sex Gazette, 8 September 2006 www.asiansexgazette.com/asg/korea/korea02news89.htm [accessed 23
December 2010] Indonesia traffics
children who often become sexually enslaved, said the report, and women and
girls as young as 10 years old from Kyrgyzstan are transported for sexual
exploitation and end up in countries like South Korea, the report said. Five Years After ECPAT: Fifth Report
on implementation of the Agenda for Action ECPAT International,
November 2001 www.no-trafficking.org/content/web/05reading_rooms/five_years_after_stockholm.pdf [accessed 13
September 2011] [B]
COUNTRY UPDATES – KOREA (REP.)
–
The recent Act on Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation came into
effect on July 1st 2000. The substantial feature is the public disclosure
about persons convicted under the Act.
Under the new law, brokers in the child prostitution business,
producers of child pornography and those who commit sexual crimes against
children will also be subject to severe penalties. Clients convicted of
having sex with child victims will be subject to maximum three-year
imprisonment. Child victims are immune from criminal prosecution though they
will undergo rehabilitation, counseling, and/or protection. Moon Gwang-lip, The Korea Times, 8 September 2004 www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=14444 [accessed 23
December 2010] South Korea should
conduct comprehensive research on the present condition of child prostitution
in the nation in order to prevent distorted or exaggerated foreign reports on
the problem, a visiting Dutch legal expert on human trafficking said. The matter is not the number itself. The situation of children being exploited
in the sex industry is a huge problem.
In that sense, the Korean government should come up with solutions, not
just protest against the reports. ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** ECPAT Global
Monitoring Report on the status of action against commercial exploitation of
children - SOUTH KOREA [PDF] ECPAT International,
2006 www.ecpat.net/A4A_2005/PDF/EAP/Global_Monitoring_Report-SOUTH_KOREA.pdf [accessed 24 July
2011] South Korea has one
of the highest numbers of Internet users in the world: nearly 80 per cent of
the population. Research conducted in 2005 by the Naeil
Women’s Centre for Youth (the ECPAT group in the country) showed that the
Internet is now a more popular venue for trading in sex than ‘ticket tea
houses’ (escort-type services offering prostitution). The
non-governmental organization (NGO) Korean Women’s House reports an average
of 100,000 runaway children and youths per year, many of whom are employed in
entertainment establishments for adults and are sexually exploited. Research
conducted by the Naeil Women’s Centre for Youth
confirmed that runaway children are at a high risk of being sexually
exploited commercially. Of the 442 runaway youths (326 females, 116 males)
interviewed, 81 per cent were aged between 13 and 18, while 19 per cent were
over 19 years of age. Forty-three per cent of the 442 runaway youths had been
approached to engage in the sex trade, and 24 per cent had experience of
commercial sex after running away. Friends’ houses and jiimjiibang
(sauna/bath houses which operate 24 hours a day and provide sleeping
facilities) were cited as popular places for the runaways to sleep at night
as they are relatively safe and cheap. However, recent legislation prohibits
underage customers, without accompanying adults, from staying in the jiimjiibang after 10 pm, thereby increasing the
vulnerability of runaway minors to violence and sexual abuse, as few other
safe options exist. Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61613.htm [accessed 11
February 2020] CHILDREN
- The
Youth Protection Law provides for prison terms of up to three years or a fine
of up to $17,680 (20 million won) for owners of entertainment establishments
who hire persons under the age of 19. The Commission on Youth Protection also
expanded the definition of "entertainment establishment" to include
facilities, such as restaurants and cafes, where children were hired
illegally as prostitutes. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt,
Prof. Martin, "Child Prostitution – ROK ( |
