Korean Job Discussion Forums

cdninkorea · Joined: 27 Jan 2006 Location: Seoul

I realize this is a controversial subject and will attract a lot of passionate debate, some of it illogically emotional and trollish. That said, as it's something I'm genuinely concerned about, I hope an enlightening discussion can take place:

I'd had the impression that while sexual slavery took place in decades past, that the women in the sex industry in modern Korea were there of their own free will; some police officer students I had a few years ago told me that women who get into debt with gangsters end up working in brothels in remote islands that serve fishermen, but aside from that, I had figured the sexual slavery had largely ended sometime in the past. Not just the high-end room salon workers who make salaries equivalent to doctors and corporate bankers, but even the ones in red-light districts, juicy bars, massage parlours, etc.

A few weeks ago, however, a friend of mine told me about the work his pastor does "freeing" women in the sex industry in Korea, and he insisted that his pastor was right in that the bulk of sex workers in Korea are still slaves. I remained skeptical since religious people have biases and motivations that colour their judgement, but then I saw this article:

Girls Are Not for Sale
http://groovekorea.com/article/girls-are-not-sale

Who's Your Daddy? · Joined: 30 May 2010 Location: Victoria, Canada.

thomas pars · Joined: 29 Jan 2009

This comes up a few times on Korean investigative TV reports. And my GF confirmed it. There are unfortunately many girls that get trapped in sex work. It is a pretty common scam done on college students. The girls borrow money for school, thinking it is a legitimate company. Only to later discover that the money is from a loan shark and the interest is likely 100% or more. They then blackmail them to work in the sex parlor. I am not exactly sure how this blackmail works. But it does.

PatrickGHBusan · Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 7:21 am Post subject:

I am sure it happens. Those women that get trapped in such a way are in for a horrible life.

The sex industry worldwide has that darker aspect to it where women are trapped into working off their so called debts for example. There was a report on something like that happening in Toronto where Thai women were sold and brought over to Canada to work as prostitutes for some scumbag pimp.

I have no doubt this happens in Korea to some women in the sex industry. The 1M figure does seem high however.