Korean Job Discussion Forums

dulouz · Joined: 04 Feb 2003 Location: Uranus

US smashes sex trafficking rings

Women are forced into prostitution to repay their debts
US police have broken up two human trafficking rings which smuggled hundreds of South Korean women into California to work as prostitutes.
They arrested about 50 people and are questioning around 150 women after taking them into protective custody.

The women were working in dozens of brothels disguised as acupuncture clinics and massage parlours in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

This could be one of the largest human trafficking cases prosecuted in the US.

About $3m (£1.7m) were recovered in the operation.

Police are now questioning the women to piece together the details of the large smuggling operation.

"This type of criminal organisation exploits the hopes and dreams of immigrants," said US attorney Debra Wong Yang at a press conference in Los Angeles.

The women were reportedly charged $16,000 to be smuggled into the US.

They were repaying their debts by working as prostitutes and giving their earnings to the ring.

Connections

Those arrested have been charged with conspiracy to harbour illegal aliens for prostitution and transporting them across state lines, as well as money laundering and sex trafficking.

The two rings operated separately, one in San Francisco and one in southern California.

But investigators believe the ringleaders knew each other and were lending each other some of the workers.

"If they needed a couple of extra women in San Francisco, the (Los Angeles) ring would send them up," said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the US attorney's office in Los Angeles.

Some of the women are believed to have entered the country through the Mexican and Canadian borders, while others used illegally obtained tourist visas.

Hater Depot · Joined: 29 Mar 2005

This reminds me of a story a friend of mine told me, but he tells a lot of stories so I'd like to know what others think. He said that many Korean credit card companies are run by mafia, and when pretty women run up too much debt they get turned into sex slaves.

Any truth to this?

dulouz · Joined: 04 Feb 2003 Location: Uranus

I've never heard of that but its a wicked urban myth true enough.

On the other hand · Joined: 19 Apr 2003 Location: I walk along the avenue

Paddycakes · Joined: 05 May 2003 Location: Seoul

On the other hand wrote:

Derrek · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

The interesting note here is that these women are servicing the KOREAN and ASIAN men abroad, generally.

dogbert · Joined: 29 Jan 2003 Location: Killbox 90210

I thought Korean Americans were supposed to be some sort of boon to the U.S.

The Bobster · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

bucheon bum · Joined: 16 Jan 2003

It was a semi-big headline in the SF Chronicle this weekend. The follow-up article's headline was something along the lines were, "Koreans might have been forced into actions." I rolled my eyes at that one. The article then said that the women were promised jobs as bar hostess, but ended up having to do other "duties." Come on, what kind of idiot wouldn't figure out what "bar hostess" meant, especially someone growing up in Korea.