19,000 arrested over prostitution
Pastor Dale Morgan
19,000 arrested over prostitution*
From correspondents in South Korea
November 20, 2006 11:11pm
Article from: Agence France-Presse
SOUTH Korean police said today they booked almost 19,000 people and
arrested 85 in a two-month nationwide crackdown on prostitution.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said 82 per cent of those caught up
in the crackdown which started in September were men buying sex. It was
not clear how many would be charged.
The agency said 70 of those arrested were go-betweens, 14 were buyers
caught in the act and one was a woman operating an escort service.
The first investigation this year in June and July involved 14,688
offenders.
The number of those involved in the sex trade at unconventional venues
such as “sports-massage centres, rest-tels (rest hotels), massage
parlours and decadent barber shops” increased to 11,802 from 10,013 in
the first crackdown.
Prostitution has been illegal since South Korea was established in 1948,
but has nonetheless thrived. Since a new law in 2004 called for tougher
punishment for sex traders, much of the business has gone underground.