Länderberichte KOREA:

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Nord- und Süd-Korea

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostituti ... outh_Korea





Minseongnoryeon - The Democratic Sex Workers' Solidarity

http://cafe.daum.net/gksdudus

http://translate.google.de/translate?hl ... 2Fgksdudus


Statement

South Korean Sex Workers Protest The Law In 2004





Erklärung der Sexarbeiter:

Gegen die Anti-Prostitutionsgesetze vom 23. September 2004.

Verlesen am Filmfestival im Rotlichtviertel in Pyeongtaek am 29. 6. 2008:

Statement of the 3rd Sex Workers’ Day Anniversary
(South Korea)

by
Minseongnoryeon - Democratic Sex Workers’ Solidarity


“Sex Workers’ Day” is a day for us to declare our rights according to the concept of “sexual transactions between consenting adults” in defining “sex work” as a resistance to the Special Laws against Prostitution that erase the human dignity of sex workers on this land. And it is a day to commemorate the solidarity and unity of all those who agree with the larger goal of the sex workers movement. The existence of sex workers who have worked with dignity are made increasingly invisible. The Democratic Sex Workers’ Solidarity (Minseongnoryeon) has now launched its battle proudly against our society in solidarity with others for three full years.

With the implementation of the Special Laws since September 23, 2004, the achievements of our battle come not just from our own efforts, but from the contradictions of those special interest groups that aim at profiting politically from the Special Laws against Prostitution. To fight against this imposition on our existence, we are demanding an even more effective battle of sex workers. Sex workers in prostitution areas (jipchangcheon) all over the country are experiencing the double suffering of first the attack from “mainstream feminists” who turn the Special Laws Against Prostitution into a political weapon and demand the abolition of prostitution areas, and then progressing to being a target of “construction capitalists” who aim at profiting from redevelopment. Although the former claim to “rescue” us, and the latter want “city aesthetics,” they are no different in the way they erase our right of survival and right of abode.

Under US influence, Cambodia passed an “anti-sex work law” (Law on Suppression of human trafficking and sexual exploitation) this February. Much violation of human rights took place in the arrests that follow. Cambodia sex workers who could not put up with this organized an “action day” to protest against the criminalization of prostitution, just like what happened in Korea, and demand the abolition of this law. From hearing the Cambodian version of the Special Laws against Prostitution, and experiencing the whirlwind effect and increase of sex crimes, we demand an urgent redefinition of the laws. The Special Laws against Prostitution, carelessly confusing the very evil crime of human trafficking with consenting sexual exchanges between adults without any moral evidence and legal effectiveness, is a pre-modern evil law. This evil law has become a strategy for the sexual majority and a political tool for construction capital, having value only for mainstream feminists and developers.

Cho Bae-sook and ten other National Congress members announced at a press conference on June 2 that “the policy for the prevention of prostitution and the reduction of sex businesses have received praise as a successful model from international society.” However, this is very different from reality. On June 4, in the Trafficking in Persons report published by the US Department of State, it is documented that “because of the large scale crackdown…. It means that this law has blatantly failed.

Minseongnoryeon is devoted to fight for the abolition of the Special Laws against Prostitution led by mainstream feminists, and the redevelopment by construction capital carried out by enforcement agencies. The celebration of the third anniversary of “Sex workers’ day” is another signal of our determination to fight for our right of survival and right of abode [Aufenthaltsrecht]. We hope to join in strong solidarity with those citizens and social organizations that sympathize with our cause in sex workers’ movement.


2008.6.29.
Democratic Sex Workers’ Solidarity - Minseongnoryeon

Translated by Sealing Cheng





"We are sex workers"

semi-nude brothel women performance 2007


Koreanisch

Mehr als 3.000 Sexworker und Betreiber von 13 Bordellen protestierten am 29.6.2005 im Seoul Olympia Park und forderten die Abschaffung der seit 29 Jahren bestehenden Prostitutions-Sondergesetze.

http://translate.google.de/translate?hl ... %3D2776869





.

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Homepage:

Democratic Sex Workers' Solidarity - Minseongnoryeon

mit vielen Bildern demonstrierender Sexworker

http://cafe.daum.net/gksdudus
(Koreanisch only)




_______________





Kurtisane oder Geisha aus dem Mittelalter

Die Künstlerin Hwang Jin-I, Leuchtender Mond


http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hwang_Jin-i

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gisaeng



The famous gisaeng Hwang Jin-i played by South Korean actress Ha Ji-won





.

[Marc of Frankfurt]

The police raided massage salons and brothels in South Korea and confiscated beds and baths in their fight against prostitution!


The South Korean police reported that the property from massage parlors and brothels in eastern Seoul have been confiscated.

An owner of a massage committed suicide in protest against the latest measure. Since the law has become stricter about prostitution, about 35,000 pimps, prostitutes and customers have been prosecuted.

Customers can pay up to 3 million won (1.800 euro) fine and brothel owners may get prison terms of up to ten years or have 100 million won (60.000 euros) fines upon conviction.

(c) ANP





.

[JayR]

Immerhin waren die koreanischen Behörden so nett, die Soldaten auf dem amrikanischen Truppenstützpunkt vor der Razzia zu warnen. Nicht auszudenken, welchen diplomatischen Verwicklungen es gegeben hätte, wenn die Polizei hunderte von amerikanischen Freiern verhaftet hätte.

Soldiers warned about prostitution crackdown near Yongsan Garrison

By Jimmy Norris and Hwang Hae-rym, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, September 11, 2008

SEOUL — South Korean police are planning a major prostitution crackdown in areas near the U.S. Army’s Yongsan Garrison.

Yongsan police confirmed Tuesday they had received instructions from the Central Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency to conduct crackdowns in the "glass house" area near Yongsan Station and on Itaewon’s infamous Hooker Hill.

A Yongsan police spokesman said Tuesday they should start raiding brothels shortly after the Chuseok holidays this weekend.

"We expect efforts to clear up the prostitution this time will be a lot tougher and stronger than ever before," the spokesman said.

"The Central Police Agency is determined to root out the prostitution."

The spokesman said U.S. troops should avoid the areas to keep from getting caught up in the upcoming raids.

U.S. Forces Korea spokesman Dave Palmer said the command has received no official warning of the planned crackdowns.

"We obviously support any initiatives [the police] come up with," Palmer said. "We’re happy they’re taking action."

Police said riot squads, normally used to put down illegal protests, will take up the work of closing down brothels and illegal gambling operations as the summer protest season winds down.

Brothel owners have already struck back after a series of raids in the Dongdaemun area put many out of business. On Monday, some owners released a list of police officers they claim have taken bribes, and threatened to release more names if the crackdowns continue.

Police said Tuesday that they welcome the list as an opportunity to weed out corruption.


Stars and Stripes
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?sect ... chive=true

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Hangyeoreh:

Special Law on Prostitution proving ineffective
Though the number of red-light districts has decreased, the number of prostitution-related crimes is increasing.

It has been four years since the Special Law on Prostitution went into effect. At the time, the government, pledging to eradicate the source of prostitution, conducted a one-month crackdown so wide in scope that pimps called it the "September Tragedy." Four years later, a queer phenomenon is occurring in which the number of red-light districts has decreased, but the crime of prostitution itself is increasing.

The Special Law on Prostitution did result in the decrease in the number of red-light districts. According to a 2007 report on businesses involved in the prostitution industry by the Korean Women's Development Institute, there were 39 red-light districts in 2007, down 30 from 2002. The report also found there were 1,443 shops in 2007, down 1,295 from 2002.

Dongdaemun district's Cheongnyangni, formerly Seoul's representative red-light district, had decreased greatly in size from 246 shops in 2004 to 32 in 2008.

Citizen consensus on the social criminality of prostitution has also grown. In a survey of citizens by the Ministry of Gender Equality, eight out of 10 (79.6%) responded that they believed prostitution to be a crime, a 25.8% increase from 2005.

Despite the waning of red-light districts, however, the reality in which you can buy sex at any time has not changed. The number of prostitution-related offenses is increasing steadily, going from 34,795 in 2006 to 39,236 in 2007. In the first half of this year alone, there were over 20,000 detentions [Festnahmen] for prostitution-related offenses.

Due to the "War on Prostitution" launched by the Dongdaemun Police Station in July, 15 of the around 20 houses of prostitution found along Jangan Daero street have been raided, but the bright lights of the neighborhood have not gone out. For the past two months, pimps have hung "massage" signs on their establishments, while some pimps have continued on after changing their establishments into "room salons" and "karaoke clubs." In response to the police crackdown, pimps are creating new forms of prostitution and proliferating quickly in other districts. Pimps are renting "officetel" rooms in the Gangnam area and elsewhere and facilitating prostitution by finding new johns using the Internet or phone. New forms of prostitution, like "telephone rooms," "hyugetel" ("rest hotels") and "doll rooms" are operating everywhere.

One of the reasons behind this "balloon effect" is that the police crackdowns have been for show. With the strength of the crackdowns fluctuating repeatedly, even pimps figure that all they need to do is wait until the crackdown subsides. Mr. Park, 40, who runs a massage parlor in the Jangan neighborhood, said he operates a shop elsewhere until the police crackdown subsides, and then returns. He said some establishments have already moved to the inn area across from the Grand Mart in Sinchon, where the streets are lined with "love motels," inexpensive inns often used for sex, and begun business. He explained that the pimps' failure to make public their list of police officers who have taken bribes means they will continue to do business in the Jangan neighborhood. While the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency has created a "stealth" unit to conduct widespread crackdowns on prostitution in Gangnam and elsewhere, most of Seoul's district police stations have not made particular plans for a crackdown. An official from Mapo Police Station, which overseas the Sinchon area where many of the Jangan pimps are relocating, said most of the places of prostitution in Sinchon and Hongdae have been cleaned up, and if they get a tip, they go out to check it out.

Experts stress that for the Special Law on Prostitution to have an effect, rather than focusing on how many places were raided and people arrested, they must break the connecting ring that keeps prostitution going by punishing pimps and building owners.





Prostitution wird sich wohl nur erübrigen, wenn Männer ihre Sexualität und Bedürfnisse nach Abenteuer und Abwechselung frei ausleben dürfen und Frauen Chancen für Selbstständigkeit und Unabhängigkeit erhalten...





.

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Razzien


Police Target Brothels in Gangnam

By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter

Police are cracking down on large-scale, corporate-like brothels thriving in southern Seoul.

Gangnam Police Station said Tuesday it has detained more than 120 pimps, prostitutes and customers after raids on 18 brothels over the last month.

``It's the tip of the iceberg,'' a Gangnam police officer said. ``We will pursue them until brothels in our precinct disappear completely.''

Police have been under fire for being lenient on large-scale brothels in Gangnam, believed to have maintained close ties with law enforcement officers, while they are harsh toward smaller brothel operators in other areas.

In response, police Thursday launched a large-scale investigation into what they call ``corporate-level brothels,'' rounding up 16 sex workers and customers.

According to investigators, a ``luxury brothel'' in Samseong-dong they raided made full use of a 10-story building, hiring more than 200 employees, including about 100 prostitutes.

``It was open exclusively to membership holders to avoid traps set by police,'' an investigator said. ``In addition, it served only alcohol and other `sound' services to customers whose background have not yet been identified. Prostitution was offered exclusively to familiar visitors in secret rooms.''

Police will summon building owners and bar staff for questioning. ``We will seek arrest warrants for those deemed necessary,'' the officer said.

Meanwhile, a group of sex workers hosted a press conference in central Seoul, Monday, on behalf of an estimated 2,500 prostitutes nationwide to call on the government to abolish what they call a ``too rigorous'' anti-prostitution law.

``Due to the police crackdown, we were unable to make money over the past month,'' a prostitute said hiding half of her face behind a mask. ``What we want from the government is not subsidies or any support but their recognition of us as a legal labor engaging in the prostitution industry,''

The Ministry of Gender Equality awards former prostitutes 400,000 won ($310) in monthly subsidies. ``It's too small to live on. So many former prostitutes are tempted to return to their prior workplaces'' she added.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/na ... 33054.html





.

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Wg. großflächiger-zerstörerischer Polizeirazzien begingen zwei Sexarbeiterinen Selbstmord.
Die namenlosen Frauen wurden ihrer Arbeitsmöglichkeit und Existenzgrundlagen beraubt.

Prostitutes Commit Suicide Over Police Crackdown

By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter

Two female prostitutes who lost their jobs following a crackdown in the red-light district of Jangan-dong in eastern Seoul took their own lives over the weekend, police said Sunday.

On Saturday evening, a 26 year-old female worker at a ``massage parlor’’ in the area was found having hanged herself at her place of work in an apparent suicide. A day earlier, another woman, 36, an employee of a nearby brothel, hanged herself in her home.

Dongdaemun Police Station said the 26-year-old woman, only identified as Lee, left a suicide death note. Her brothel, operating as a massage parlor, had been closed at the height of the intensive crackdown.

In the note (written on a tissue box), she expressed frustration over the ``hasty’’ crackdown.

When policemen were moving their bodies to a hospital, neighboring pimps and shop owners tried to block police officers, claiming they might try to conceal the suicide note. Police are investigating the cases.

Last August, a pimp identified by his surname, Choi, hanged himself in an underground parking lot, criticizing police for making his life difficult.

Pimps at massage parlors and shop owners are claiming that a series of suicides occurred following what they call precipitous crackdowns that forced them to fold their businesses and made it difficult for them to find new means of income.

Many of those involved in the sex industry in the region are scrambling to find new jobs and businesses for survival.

Police said they will continue to crack down on brothels regardless of the back-to-back suicides.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/na ... 33735.html





Prostitute Commits Suicide, Blaming Police

11-01-2008

As the intense police crackdown on Seoul’s infamous Changan-dong brothel district continued over three months, a “laidoff” prostitute hanged herself.

The woman, 36, was found by a friend who couldn’t reach her by phone for more than 10 days. The friend visited her apartment and called police after smelling a strange rotten odour.

The brothel where she worked for several years was shuttered by the police. Since then, she has had economic difficulty, according to her friends, Yonhap reported Saturday.

“She often left accusatory messages on the Web site of the police, but they were erased from the message board. She became very enraged,” a friend of her was quoted as saying, adding because of her age, she couldn’t find work in other brothels.

The owner of a brothel had also committed suicide on Aug. 29.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/na ... 33706.html





Gedenk- und Totentafel Sexworker-Selbstmorde
viewtopic.php?p=14824#14824

Razzia-Blog
viewtopic.php?t=1062





.

[Marc of Frankfurt]

"Der Krieg ist der Vater aller Dinge", gilt insbesondere für SW.


The Construction of U.S. Camptown Prostitution in South Korea: Trans/Formation and Resistance

Dissertation von Lee, Na Young

Women's Studies
University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
28-Nov-2006


Abstract:
This dissertation examines the historical construction and transformation of U.S. camptown prostitution (kijich'on prostitution) in South Korea. Wrought by Japanese colonialism, U.S. military occupation, national division, and the Korean War, camptown prostitution (kijich'on prostitution) has been historically constructed and reconstructed within a complex web of dynamic power relations between/among nation-states, subjects, and NGOs. This is a study of U.S. camptown prostitution, however, which is not just about military prostitution. Rather, it is a study of the power dynamics inherent in the material basis and the discursive formations that make the phenomenon, kijich'on prostitution, substantial. As such, this study analyzes the multiple intersections of structures of power that constitute the kijich'on.

The purpose of this study is
1) to provide a geneology to explain the socio-historical phases of camptown prostitution,

2) to gauge the impacts of inter-state relations, U.S. military policy, and (inter)national policies on the kijich’on and kijich’on prostitution,

3) to trace the roles and activities of Korean NGOs and women’s organizations with regard to kijich’on prostitution, and finally

4) to understand the triangular relationship among the nation-states, women subjects, and movement organizations in (re)constructing kijich’on prostitution as both material reality and symbolic metaphor. Thus, the research questions at the center of this dissertation are directed towards four themes:
- historicizing kijich’on prostitution,
- understanding the role of the nation-states and NGOs in the process of construction and transformation of the kijich’on,
- deconstructing the policies that have impacted kijich’on prostitution and the
- women’s movement against kijich’on prostitution.

In order to answer these questions, this study employs multiple methods of gathering information and analysis, including:
- archival research,
- participant observation,
- indepth interviews, and
- textual analysis.

Utilizing gender as a crucial analytical category, this dissertation contributes not only to an understanding of camptown prostitution, but also to the theoretical conceptualization of military prostitution, feminist radical theories of gender, race, and nation, and the trans/national feminist movements.



http://www.lib.umd.edu/drum/bitstream/1 ... d-3959.pdf
(pdf 292 pages)

URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1903/4162





Eine feministische Studie

Die Autorin versucht nicht die Lebenssitation oder gar die Andersartigkeit von Sexworkern darzustellen. Das würde lediglich das herrschende ideologische System und seine Ausdrücke reproduzieren.

Vielmehr beschreibt sie wie die (globalisierten) politischen Rahmenbedingungen die herrschenden Systeme von Sexarbeit beeinflussen.

Alles begann mit der Japanischen Unterwerfung und dem Beginn lizensierter Prostitution in Rotlichtvierteln mit staatlich kontrolliertem Registrierung und Geschlechtskrankheiten-Zwangsuntersuchungen. Koreanerinnen wurden ferner strategisch Mißbraucht von japanischen Soldaten (Compfort Women).

Während des U.S. Militärregimens (1945-48) wurde das Lizensierungssystem verboten im Namen von Demokratie und Geschlechtergleichberechtigung. Japanische koloniale Strukturen belieben jedoch innerhalb der Militärbasen erhalten. Wegen der Gefahr von Geschlechtskrankheiten für die Armee (Veneral Diseases) wurden zahlreiche Kontrollinstrumente beibehalten. Prostitution war eine notwendige Freizeitunterhaltung für Soldaten. Bis in die Zeit des kalten Krieges kamen die Soldaten im Gegensatz zu Deutschland ohne Familie nach Korea. Camps entstanden als Ghettos und zugleich Pufferzonen zur Koreanischen Gesellschaft.

In der anti-amerikanischen, adrozentrisch-nationalen Demokratisierungsbewegung in den 1980ern, wandelten sich die Begriffe für Sexarbeiter von “fallen women,” “trash,” “Western princess (yanggongju),” oder “Western whore (yanggalbo)” zu “sex slaves,” “deceived or exploited victims,” “abused women,” “sacrificial lambs” und/oder “our poor sisters".

Das konzeptionalisierte Leiden von koreanischen Sexarbeiterinnen zugefügt durch amerikanische imperialistische Soldaten wurde als nationale Schmach erlebt. Die Sexarbeiterinnen wurden stärkeren Kontrollen unterworfen, verloren noch mehr Selbstständigkeit und Entwertung.

Seit Mitte der 1990er werden lokale koreanische Sexworker durch ausländische Sexworker als preiswertere Arbeitskräfte verdrängt.

Doch Sexarbeiterinnen in den Campsystem waren nie hilflose Opfer oder ignorante mittellose Frauen. Sie waren in der Lage Wiederstand zu organisieren gegen eine stigmatisierte und pathologisierte Identität, gegen diskriminierende Behandlung und Ausbeutung seitens US-Soldaten, Zuhältern, Betreibern, Koreanern und organisierten Selbsthilfegruppen, planten Auswege aus ausbeuterischer Umgebung und dem Land und eroberteten Freiräume für sich.

Sex Workers’ Hunger Strike in Seoul in front of the South Korean national assembly, December 2004

“the right to live” and “the right to work”

[Bilder Seite 13; 23, 240]





.

[Arum]

Einiges wundert mich hier schon.

Es hat vielleicht auch mit dem blinden Auge der Berichterstatter für die Provinz zu tun, aber offensichtlich hat die koreanische Regierung kein Problem mit den Teebesorgerinnen, die mir besonders ausserhalb Seoul die Mehrzahl koreanischer SW zu bilden erscheinen. Auf Hotelzimmern findet man Streichholzschachteln vor mit Werbung für Teebesorgdienste, die aber fast ohne Ausnahme mit Bildern von hübschen Mädchen ausgestattet ist.

Kann nicht aus eigener Erfahrung bestätigen, dass es dabei auch wirklich zum seksuellen Kontakt kommt, denn habe selber nie dort angerufen (war mehrmals in Korea, ausserhalb Seoul, letztes Mal 2007), aber das Phänomen als solches taucht hin und wieder in koreanischen Filmen auf.

Übrigens gibt es besonders in Seoul auch diese Streuzetteln, die werben für 'leckeres Fleisch', immer in der Nähe von den sogenannten Motels (Hotels der mittleren Preisklasse, meistens nur von Koreanern benutzt, auch als Liebeshotel) auf der Strasse ausgestreut.

[Ariane]

Stolen from Mongolia for sex

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/asia ... n-mongolia

[Arum]

(520) Extramarital Sex


From the late 1950s even the slightest references to sexual activity were purged from North Korean art. Only villains could be depicted as thinking about sex, while the positive heroes were always asexual. Divorce was made difficult, almost impossible.

It seems that the government control, along with the activities of the neighborhood watch groups, the infamous ``inminban,'' helped to maintain the officially endorsed standards of sexual behavior. The powerful few sometimes could have extra-marital affairs, but they were an exception.

I also know of some cases when women got pregnant from premarital sex - like a female soldier who once ``did it'' with her boyfriend in the late 1970s.

But once she found out that she was pregnant, she knew she was in serious trouble: if discovered, a pregnancy would lead to a dishonorable discharge from the army, after which nobody would allow her to return to her family in privileged Pyongyang.

Fortunately, her boyfriend and his well-connected family stood by her, pushed all the right buttons and arranged for an immediate discharge from the army, followed by marriage (they have two children now, and live happily in Seoul).

Prostitution, common in North Korean cities in colonial times, was eradicated in the early 1950s, and former prostitutes and gisaeng (high-class courtesans) were either exiled from the major cities or ``re-educated through labor.''

Once again, there were exceptions: I am aware of some foreign males who managed to have paid sexual encounters with female members of staff in some large hotels (well, this is at least what they told me).

For a brief period, in the early and mid-1980s, Pyongyang even had a hostess club where a customer could negotiate what is now euphemistically known in South Korea as the ``second round,'' but the hostesses were Thai girls.

However, the situation began to change in the early 1990s when the old system collapsed under the weight of economic difficulties. This influenced everything in North Korea, including the sexual behavior of its inhabitants.

After all, Koreans can now engage in premarital or extramarital sex without taking too many risks: the state does not care about such matters as much as it used to, and finding a suitable place and time is also much easier.

The emerging ``black market capitalism'' was (and still is) dominated by women who have acquired a great measure of economic freedom and independence, meaning that they are less inhibited about having affairs with men they like.

The female merchants travel a lot, they are essentially beyond the reach of the state, and they feel themselves far more confident than ever before.

In a sense, the sexual adventures of these women can be seen as a sign of their liberation. However, these lucky women are a minority. Others have fared much worse. The social disruption and famine of the late 1990s pushed many women into prostitution.

Some of them can be found in Chinese brothels, but it seems that the majority have to ply their trade within North Korea, where their situation is even worse (but never reported by the media).

Nowadays, North Korea has a number of private karaoke rooms - a development which would have been positively unthinkable some 10 years ago. Some of those rooms serve as a cover for prostitution.

They have even devised ways to advertise this to a passerby, so a patron can know if sexual services are available in the particular outlet. The code words are ``selling beds'' or, more poetically, ``selling flowers.''

Another cover for prostitution is provided by the private inns which proliferated some 10 years ago and operate with a disregard of the strict laws governing internal movement in North Korea.

It seems that sometimes the same inns can provide a space for lovers as well - as long as they can pay the rather high fees.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/op ... 49341.html

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Wie die Erscheinungsformen von anonymen Sex
durch Anti-Prostitutions-Gesetze beeinflußt wird:

Sex industry invents "kissing rooms" after police crackdown


By Kim Ye Ran

SEOUL, Aug. 14 (Yonhap) -- As police crackdowns on brothels in traditional red light zones have been intensifying after the special anti-prostitution law was passed in 2004, desperate owners have found creative ways to fly below the police radar.

Brothel owners have swiftly changed the faces of their businesses, which masquerade as massage parlors or telephone chat rooms, but authorities have also clamped down on these new sex shops.

Amid this game of cat and mouse, a new kind of business has appeared -- "Kiss Bang" or kissing rooms, where men pay to kiss female workers.

Such establishments are an unintended effect of the special anti-prostitution law passed in 2004, which penalizes both the dealer and client of sex services, experts say.

"The balloon effect accompanies the special anti-prostitution law. Those brothel owners have rearranged themselves in different ways to avoid the law since the crackdown has become suffocating," said Song Ki-hwan, a member of the Nationwide Movement for the Banishment of Prostitution (NMBP), which was launched June 2.

"This is why the number of red light districts has declined, but other forms of sex services have appeared rapidly."

According to a triennial study conducted by the Ministry of Gender Equality in 2007, the number of brothels in Korea decreased 41 percent, from 1,679 shops in 2004 to 992 in 2007. Also, the number of women working in the sex industry decreased from 5,567 in 2004 to 2,523, dropping 55 percent.

However, the number of massage parlors and other businesses suspected of engaging in the sex trade nearly doubled to 9,451 in 2007 from 5,481 in 2005.

The number of kissing rooms in operation, however, remains a mystery.
"We don't know how many of these kissing rooms there are across the country, but they are proliferating quickly," said Shin Hei-soo, co-representative of the NMBP and associate professor at Ewha Woman's University's Graduate School of International Studies.

Although one Web site says kissing rooms offer no sexual services beyond kissing, anti-prostitution civic groups are worried that additional arrangements can easily be provided by kissing rooms that could lead to prostitution.

"We are worried that it is highly likely that after kissing, additional, actual sex might be arranged," added Shin.

But it is difficult for authorities to crack down on this new type of business because there are no laws against kissing for money.

Kissing rooms grew enough in number to cause concern within the government, which began to study ways to cope with them.

Gender Equality Minister Byun Do-yoon said last month that her ministry would, with the aid of local police, carry out a large-scale crackdown on kissing rooms and other new types of sex related establishments.


A government official said she is studying ways to cope with this new kind of business, and that the government recognizes the special anti-prostitution law unintentionally bred the problem of altered sexual services.

"For now, the only thing we can do about kissing rooms is strengthen on-the-spot crackdowns and find an actual sex trade there. Then we can suspend their businesses for sexual acts," said Kim Ga-ro, director of Women's Rights Planning Division at the Ministry of Gender Equality. "We are closely studying ways to penalize these establishments."
Administrators are not the only ones who try to overcome the difficulties in coping with the changing face of the sex trade.

Police who participate in crackdowns say it is not easy to find these clandestine businesses. Kissing rooms receive clients only through online reservations, and surveillance cameras are installed in front of their buildings, making raids difficult.

"It is hard to find where these shops are located. Besides, even if we can find the shops at all, they have strict entrance rules. We don't have enough manpower, and there are not enough reports from citizens," said a policeman, who asked not to be named.

He works for Seodaemun Police Station that covers the Sinchon neighborhood, a student area where many entertainment businesses, including bars and clubs, are clustered.

Realizing the gravity of the situation, some Individuals and various business associations have decided to clean up the streets themselves.

"We have decided to take part in this movement because numerous massage parlors are involved in the sex trade. Now we found out that new types of sex businesses like kissing rooms have appeared. We are studying ways to deal with it," said Song Ki-hwan, a massage parlor owner who is also a representative of National Massage Association.

In the last two months, the NMBP created a map marking all the establishments involved in prostitution in Yeoksam-dong, an entertainment hotspot in Seoul's affluent Gangnam district, located north of the Han River. The map was handed over to the Gangnam Police Station.

"The Gangnam map is only a start. We are planning to create a map that will reveal the location of possible sex trade shops north of the river very soon, and the map will include kissing rooms. We will hand the map over to the authorities for punishment (of offenders)," said professor Shin of the NMBP.

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/Feature ... 0326F.HTML





.

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Süd-Korea eröffnet erste Klinik für Opfer von Menschenrechtsverletzungen:

viewtopic.php?p=78672#78672

[Arum]

          

In the last two months, the NMBP created a map marking all the establishments involved in prostitution in Yeoksam-dong, an entertainment hotspot in Seoul's affluent Gangnam district, located north of the Han River.

.

Nicht unbedingt wichtig, aber das stimmt nicht: Gangnam befindet sich am südlichen Han-Ufer. Ich kenne mich in Seoul ein wenig aus.

[nina777]

5.5.2010

Congress Fights Prostitution Near U.S. Military Bases in Korea

The system of South Korean "juicy bars" — bars which cater to U.S. military bases in the country — has come under fire lately for links to prostitution and human trafficking. But Congress has introduced a bill to better monitor what prostitution or human trafficking, if any, is happening near U.S. military bases and figure out how best to reduce it.

Here's how the "juicy bar" system works: Filipina and other foreign women are brought to South Korea by brokers as "entertainers." The brokers then rent the women out to bars, priced depending on the girl's "talents" or attractiveness and the bar's needs. There, they flirt with and kiss soldiers and tourists, in an attempt to keep them buying the girls expensive juice drinks. If a girl sells her quota of juice drinks in the evening, all is usually well. But if she doesn't, she's expected to make up the difference. And her only means of doing that is prostitution.

Both South Korea and the U.S. have laws in place to prevent prostitution from being targeted to U.S. soldiers, but the juicy bar system has long skirted the laws. The new bill on the table in Congress would both place stronger restrictions against juicy bars and do a better job of monitoring U.S. military activities that may be connected to human trafficking. It would also promote cooperation between the military and local NGOs, to help identify situations of human trafficking. The Department of Defense would also be required to step up monitoring of cases where service members have been accused of facilitating human trafficking or other organized crime. And that includes buying sex from a trafficked girl or woman.

So far, an outright ban on the juicy bars has been rejected, since not all of them promote prostitution or coerce the women who work there into prostituting on the side. But the U.S. government and the Department of Defense will certainly be keeping a closer watch on the situation if the proposed legislation passes. And they might even be on the lookout if it doesn't. Because the last thing any branch of the military wants is to be tied to forced prostitution at a juicy bar.

http://humantrafficking.change.org/blog ... s_in_korea

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Küß-Zimmer

Als Umgehungsstrategie gegen die nach US-Muster gestrickten Anti-Menschenhandelsgesetze gegen Prostitution


Newest phenomenon in Korean prostitution: ‘Hug rooms’
By Nathan Schwartzman
http://asiancorrespondent.com/49340/new ... hug-rooms/

[Lycisca]

Wie der folgende Bericht aus Korea zeigt, fühlen sich Sexarbeiter in Korea derart massiv in ihren Menschenrechten eingeschränkt, dass sich einige aus Protest selbst verbrennen wollten. Ein weiterer Aspekt ist, dass Razzien offenbar von Kaufhäusern bestellt werden. In Österreich ist dieser Aspekt beim Prozess gegen Tierschutzaktivisten in Wr. Neustadt zutage getreten.

South Korean sex workers rally against police crackdown
Quelle: Seattle Pi vom 17.05.2011

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Hundreds of prostitutes and pimps rallied Tuesday near a red-light district in Seoul to protest a police crackdown on brothels, with some unsuccessfully attempting to set themselves on fire.

A crowd of about 400 people, mostly women wearing baseball caps, masks and sunglasses, chanted slogans like, "Guarantee the right to live!" during the four-hour rally.

At one point, about 20 protesters in their underwear and covered in body and face paint doused themselves in flammable liquid in an apparent attempt to burn themselves, but others stopped them from lighting any flames. Some of the women then sat in the street and wept and screamed, while other protesters consoled them.

Minor scuffles between protesters and police officers erupted after the rally, but there were no reports of major injuries.

Prostitution is illegal in South Korea but is widespread despite repeated government crackdowns.

The rally comes weeks after officials began stationing police cars near brothels in a bid to drive away people looking to pay for sex.

The sex workers accuse a nearby department store of pushing police to take such measures. Police deny the claim.

As part of their protest, a group of prostitutes on Sunday tried to buy expensive items at the department store with only coins; when they were rejected, they placed large piles of coins on the department store's floors.

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Eindringliche Fotoserie

selber Artikel auch hier erschienen
www.washingtonPost.com/world/masked-sou ... story.html





Razzia, Schließung der Sexarbeitsstätten und Sexworker-Protest:


Vergrößern

"Seongmaemae Tteukbyeolbeob pyejihara" which means literally "Repeal the Sex Work Special Law" / "Sexarbeiter kriminalisierende Anti-Menschenhandelsgesetze abschaffen!"
(referring to the 2004 Anti-Sex Trafficking Law).
[M.L.]





.

[Marc of Frankfurt]

Video
www.euronews.net/nocomment/2011/05/17/k ... y-in-seoul

Hundreds of sex workers rallied on Tuesday near a red-light district in Seoul to protest against a police crackdown on brothels, with some unsuccessfully attempting to set themselves on fire.


Eine sehr erfahrene Sexworker-Kollegin und -Aktivistin hält es für großartig inszeniertes Straßentheater-Agitprop. Interessant, wie wir, die Öffentlichkeit und Medienvertreter zunächst geneigt sind dem Klischee Sexworker als Objekt und Opfer folgend, die Szene für einen echten Selbstverbrennungsversuch zu bewerten: "doused themselves in flammable liquid in an apparent attempt to burn themselves, but others stopped them from lighting any flames".

Leider liegen noch keine Übersetzungen der koreanischen Texte und Wortmeldungen vor.

[Ariane]

Zur Sexworker & Pimps Rally in Seoul habe ich noch folgende Meldung mit Hintergrundinformationen zur Schliessung des Rotlicht-Bezirks durch Gentrifizierungsprozesse:




"Seoul, Südkorea, 17. Mai 2011


Quelle:
http://www.sueddeutsche.de/leben/moment ... 1097748-24

The Chosun Ilbo (English Edition): Daily News from Korea - 19.05.11 18:44

Prostitutes, Pimps Rally for Right to Do Business


Around 450 prostitutes clad in traditional white Korean burial robes or wearing only their underwear with red paint smeared all over their bodies protested in front of the Times Square shopping mall in Seoul's Yeongdeungpo on Tuesday afternoon demanding their right to do business. Some even poured gasoline over their bodies threatening self-immolation.
Prostitutes as well as the owners of beauty salons and dress shops from red light districts in other parts of Seoul and surrounding Gyeonggi Province who depend on their custom also took part in the four-hour protest.
Red light districts in and around the capital have been forced to close down as the areas are being redeveloped to make room for apartments and office buildings. Last month, around 200 prostitutes and pimps protested in front of the shopping mall. Pimps in Cheongnyangni in the northeastern part of Seoul have clashed with police as they try to pick up customers in front of a major department store nearby.
In the once notorious red light district in Cheongnyangni, which at one time was home to around 700 prostitutes, only 60 remain. The red light district in front of Yongsan Station near central Seoul used to house around 120 brothels, but only six or seven remain and even they will be shut down next month.
A decade ago, the price of real estate for 3.3 sq. m of land around the red light district in Yongsan was W30-50 million (US$1=W1,090). Now, it has soared to more than W150 million. A 54-story skyscraper and a sprawling apartment complex are scheduled to be built in the red light district area in Cheongnyangni, while 35 and 40-story buildings will be built in Yongsan.
"In Seoul, it's impossible to make a profit from prostitution after paying for the real estate," a developer said.

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/htm ... 01092.html