It’s shameful and shocking that South Koreans are among the most frequent clients of child prostitutes in Southeast Asia, but national shame in such matters is nothing new, given the rampant domestic sex trade. The disgraceful conclusion comes from a report released by the state-funded Korean Institute of Criminology that conducted year-long onsite surveys in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and the Philippines.
According to the report, civic activists in those countries claim that Korean tourists outnumber all other nationalities in terms of the frequency of their visits to child prostitutes. Of course, there are no verifiable statistics showing the status of Koreans’ illegal sex activities in this region, but the institute said Koreans are the No. 1 source of demand for sex with minors there, citing a tally of tourists who frequent bars linked to prostitution and accounts of sex workers.
It’s lamentable that Interpol officers in Cambodia sarcastically cite Korea as the strongest sponsor of the Southeast Asian country’s sex industry. And it’s more embarrassing to hear that Koreans are unrivaled when it comes to buying sex from minors.
True, Koreans’ sex addiction abroad has already won international infamy. Statistics compiled by the National Police Agency show that the number of Koreans apprehended for buying sex abroad has been on a steady increase from 78 in 2010 to 341 in 2011 and 125 in the first half of last year.
Korea enforced a law banning the sex trade in 2004 and launched a crackdown on brothels and other sex businesses, but Koreans’ decadent sex industry has shown little sign of improvement. Rather, methods have become more covert and elaborate. For instance, one can easily find online websites that provide information about prices for sex with underage prostitutes and the best places to go.
In May last year, a five-star hotel in southern Seoul had its operation suspended for two months for providing the so-called ``full salon’’ service in which customers are able to have sex in the same building after drinking without having to go down to the lobby to gain access to rooms.
All these amount to a shameful self-portrait of Koreans who are blind to the fact that the sex trade is a barbarous activity. It’s dumbfounding that nearly 78 percent of Koreans were unaware that sex tourism in Southeast Asia was illegal.
To prevent the humiliating nickname of ``ugly Koreans’’ from spreading further, the Korean government should strengthen its punitive measures against citizens who go overseas to buy sex. Specifically, a continuous clampdown must be imposed on tourism agencies that publicly arrange sex tours to Asian countries.