Many runaway girls cash in on prostitution
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Four in 10 teenage girls who run away from home engage in prostitution to earn money, a survey says. / Korea Times file
By Lee Jin-a
About 40 percent of runaway teenage girls have prostituted themselves, a survey has found.
According to a survey of 92 runaway teen girls in Daejeon, 38 percent said they have worked as prostitutes and about half (48.6) said they started when aged between 14 and 16.
Asked who had brokered the sex, 31.4 percent said an older or younger acquaintance, another 31 percent said their friends and 17.1 percent said themselves.
Money was the biggest motive for turning to prostitution (21.1 percent), followed by no place to sleep (15.5 percent), hunger (14.1 percent) and requests from friends or acquaintances. Most participants engaged in prostitution through websites (42 percent), at karaoke rooms (24 percent), from the street (22 percent) and at hostess bars (10 percent).
Thirty-two percent of survey participants said runaway girls are more likely to get tempted by the brokers than boys. Seventeen percent said they have fewer options for jobs, and 10 percent said they are more vulnerable to sex crimes.
Yook Hye-ryon, a professor at Chungnam National University who did the survey, said many runaway teen girls had no choice but prostitution.
She said the government needs to tighten control and punishment for the crime to cut underage prostitution in Korea, and establish consulting programs to help the girls find better jobs.