The annual "sex trade" is 14 trillion yuan, and the pornography industry continues to be banned. Why has South Korea fallen to this point?

Jongmyo Park near the center of Seoul, South Korea, is a paradise for the elderly. When they have nothing to do, many older men come here to kill time playing chess. Not far from them, there were many old ladies "selling wine". Most of them are very old and have no social security or child support, so they can only make a living by selling home-brewed wine.

When the men get tired from playing chess, they come over to buy some wine. Of course, buying wine is just an excuse. When they handed the money in their hands to the old lady selling wine, both parties understood that this was actually a "sex transaction."But the old ladies will not refuse, or in other words, "sex trade" is their real purpose. There are many old ladies selling wine like this in Korea. They all have a common name - Bacchus Wine Girl.

Is the sex trade among old people like this? Not to mention, how rampant is the sex trade among some young people in South Korea? In 2014, Japan, which has a developed "sex industry", ridiculed South Korea and said that prostitution was a cancer in Korean society that had not been cured for a long time. It had a long-standing bad reputation as a "big sex industry country". Although South Korea promulgated the "Special Law on Sex Trafficking" in 2004, 10 years later, South Korea's pornography industry continues to grow in various disguised forms, and has even spread to the world, developing into a "global industry."



South Korea's porn industry has indeed been around for a long time.

After the Korean War, the people's livelihood in South Korea became even more miserable. The chaotic social environment has created good conditions for the development of the pornography industry. A large number of women who are forced to live begin to regard "sex trade" as legitimate work. The pornography industry brought a lot of profits to South Korea, which was in urgent need of development at the time. Therefore, the South Korean government did not issue any restrictive laws. After entering the new century, South Korea's reputation as a porn powerhouse has become "famous" around the world. At this time, in South Korea, from film and television to politics to ordinary life, no aspect can escape the influence of pornography. Pornography has formed a complete, large-scale industrial chain. In Seoul, the capital of South Korea, the most famous sex trafficking place is Cheongnyangni 588. People sometimes call it 588 for short.



In 2002, during the World Cup in South Korea, approximately 300,000 foreign Tourists came to South Korea, providing opportunities for the growth of South Korea's porn industry. In Qingliang, in order to earn money from foreign tourists, prostitutes kept pace with the times, learned from the Dutch model, put on sexy clothes, sat behind glass showcases, and posed, waiting for customers to choose. Most of these prostitutes are young girls, between the ages of 18 and 25, and there are even some students who are trying to earn tuition. In order to compete for foreign tourists, these people not only put on more enthusiastic actions than usual, but also learned some simple English in order to satisfy foreign tourists.



In addition to prostitutes in Cheongnyangri, various cities in South Korea have also launched nightclub models. In the name of the World Cup, they package the escort girls, let them wear the uniforms of various national teams, drink with guests, watch the World Cup, and provide other services, which has become a beautiful "landscape".

In addition, due to the popularity of the Internet, the revenue of third-level films has declined. Some actors in third-level films have also become barmaids, making a living in entertainment venues and even selling their lives. They "work" in a restaurant in Gangnam District, Seoul, where rich people gather. Just like ordinary escort girls, they accompany their guests to drink, and sometimes they also accompany their guests to go "secondary" (that is, to go to bed). Because these third-level film actresses have better faces and figures, even if the prices are too high for most people to care about, the "business" is still very hot.

In addition to prostitutes from South Korea, prostitutes from other countries also entered South Korea to engage in sex trade during the World Cup. They enter the country through normal channels through the local underworld. They usually come to South Korea with performing arts visas that can stay for half a year and can be extended to up to two years. They engage in prostitution activities in the name of working as dancers in nightclubs and other places, and fully expand their business. Korean porn market.



After the World Cup, South Korea's pornography industry has completely overflowed. There are more than 50,000 prostitution establishments in the country, and there are at least 330,000 prostituted women. The total revenue of the pornographic industry is as high as 24 trillion won, approximately RMB 8.4 billion, accounting for 4.1% of the country’s GDP. Its economic benefits are closely related to South Korea’s agriculture and forestry. The fishing industry is quite good. The pornography industry on such a scale has caused serious social harm. A large number of underage girls become pregnant during sex trafficking and then go to hospitals for abortions, which not only causes serious harm to themselves, but also has a serious impact on Korean society. In addition, there are many cases of prostitutes dying as a result of being punished by their clients during the sex trade. Among them, a prostitute was burned alive when her house caught fire because she was locked in a cage. This incident aroused widespread social attention in South Korea, and women's groups and female congressmen began to call for legislation to protect women and completely eradicate sex trafficking.



In 2002, South Korea enacted the "Special Law on Sex Trafficking". After two years of revision and improvement, it was officially implemented in 2004. In just one month after the "Special Law on Sex Trafficking" was launched, the South Korean police conducted a series of anti-pornography operations and banned the sex trade of 17,000 people, of which more than 1,600 were detained. Among those detained, many pornographic introductions were included people and men who engage in sex trafficking. The police action has achieved good results. Many women engaged in the sex trade have received sufficient help and improved their living conditions.



However, the proliferation of the sex industry in South Korea has not fundamentally changed. Most of the sex trade has begun to transform. They use the Internet and other tools to go underground and even penetrate into residential areas. In addition, some women engaged in the sex trade have also begun to go overseas, causing serious impact on other countries. By 2007, the output value of South Korea's sex trade had declined compared with 2002, accounting for only 1.6% of GDP, about 14 trillion won, but the number of women engaged in the sex trade continued to grow.

According to a report from the Korean government’s Department of Gender and Family Equality, nearly 270,000 Korean women are engaged in sex work. This means that in South Korea at that time, 1 in 20 women had experience in the sex trade. In 2012, with the improvement and popularization of network technology, the sex trade in South Korea was still expanding. Since the "Special Sex Trafficking Act" is not a bill that strictly prohibits sex trafficking, sex trafficking in South Korea is still rampant. In Gwangju, South Korea, there are more than 200 nightclubs on nearly 1 kilometer of street. More than 90% of these places can conduct sex transactions, with prices ranging from approximately 150,000 to 600,000 won (RMB 863 to 3,449 yuan) per person. Basically, these nightclubs suddenly increased after South Korea implemented the "Special Sex Trafficking Act" in 2004.



In addition, there are Gwangju Sangmu area, Samdong Seoul Yeosan, Busan Yeonsan transportation hub area, Ulsan Samdongsan and other places, which are all so-called "sex trade new towns" that were developed intensively after the promulgation of the "Sex Trade Special Act". These "new sex trade cities" are developing rapidly, mainly in the form of karaoke parlors and massage industries. The number of local entertainment venues such as karaoke rooms increased from 28,757 in 2007 to 31,623 in 2010, and the number of massage venues also increased from 3,360 in 2007 to 5,271 in 2010. Their distribution locations are very distinctive, mostly in residential areas or near schools.

For example, the sex trade red light district in Yeoksam-dong, Seoul, South Korea, is located close to junior high and high schools. Sex trafficking is very common here. As long as you pick up the phone and call the director of an office building to ask "if sex trafficking is possible," the person will discuss the price with you, ask for your address, and let sex traders come to your door to provide services. Of course, the efforts of the South Korean police are not entirely ineffective. By 2018, the sex trade industry in South Korea has obviously decreased a lot.



There are 22 operating red light districts, a decrease of nearly half compared with 42 in 2016. However, the private sex trade continues to expand, and they change their methods and use the Internet to open up new avenues. The most representative ones are office hotel sex trade and kiss rooms. Business owners advertise on illegal gambling websites or adult websites, or open introductory transaction websites to receive bookings. The method of sex trade workers “discussing business” one-on-one with customers through mobile phones has also become widespread. This transaction model adds a lot of difficulties to the police's operations. This year, the size of South Korea's sex trade market basically reached 200 billion yuan.

By 2021, due to the epidemic and other reasons, a large number of illegal sex trades began to occur in South Korea. On October 8, a gang that rented 120 commercial and residential properties in 23 places in South Korea and engaged in large-scale sex trafficking operations was captured. On suspicion of violating the "Sex Trafficking Punishment Act", the police detained and prosecuted 4 people, including A, the general leader of the gang, and opened 25 people for investigation without detention. Since June 2019, a certain group of A has rented 120 commercial and residential properties in 23 places including Paju and Ansan in Gyeonggi Province, Gimhae in South Gyeongsang Province, and Cheongju in North Chungcheong Province, and engaged in organized sex trafficking operations. It only operates in Busan and Gyeongsang Province. More than 10,000 transaction records have been confirmed in the Sangnam-do area.

The reason the sex trade is so rampant in South Korea is that supply and demand are high. A Korean woman engaged in the sex trade said that she had low education and needed money for her own secrets, so she finally chose the sex trade.

Although South Korea has entered the ranks of developed countries at the beginning of the 21st century, the real situation of its citizens is not optimistic. A large number of poor people, a government controlled by capital, and imperfect social security have all forced Korean women from minors to seniors to choose to maintain their basic lives through sex trade. This situation has made most families in South Korea full of tragedy.

In the future, if South Korea wants to solve this problem, it will either learn from some European countries and completely legalize sex trade, or it will introduce laws to ban any sex trade, not just restrict sex trade. However, no matter how South Korea chooses, it cannot avoid the fact that the development of the pornographic industry has indeed brought a lot of economic benefits to the country, but it is also destroying the country.