By Kim Bo-eun
Police caught 105 people involved in underage prostitution and apprehended 12 pimps, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said Wednesday.
The ministry and the National Police Agency conducted a crackdown on teenage prostitution using chatting applications from Nov. 28 to Jan. 26.
The crackdown found 64 people who paid for sex, 33 who acted as brokers and eight who attempted to force teenage girls into prostitution.
One broker approached a minor on one of the apps, luring her into prostitution with promises of earning large amounts of money. The broker suggested over 20 occasions she have sex with random men, and took a third of the payment.
There were also swindlers who put up posts for teenage prostitution and collected fees from men seeking to buy sex but then did not introduce them to girls.
In another case, a man was arrested for having sex with a teenager who ran away from home because of domestic violence, in exchange for housing, food and pocket money.
The largest number of men buying sex were in their 30s (58 percent) followed by those in their 20s (20 percent), in their 40s (11 percent) and 50s (5 percent).
Purchasing sex from minors can subject individuals to up to 10 years in prison or up to a 50 million won fine.
The ministry is providing the minors with counseling and training to help them out of prostitution.
Meanwhile, a separate crackdown by police on adult prostitution using chatting apps caught 846 individuals and apprehended 11 brokers.
In an earlier crackdown from February to May last year on teenage prostitution using chatting apps, police caught 419 individuals and arrested 41 of them.
“The risk of adolescents being lured into prostitution through chatting applications is growing,” a ministry official said.
“We will encourage reporting of these applications through rewards, and cooperate with the police to toughen crackdowns.”