By Kim Jae-heun
The government plans to strengthen its monitoring of websites linked to prostitution and sex trafficking, the gender ministry said, Friday.
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (MOGEF) held a meeting to discuss the measures to control the websites and prevent prostitution and foreign victims.
The ministry will develop a large data-based artificial intelligence program to monitor the prostitution situation in the country.
When the program is operational, the websites will be shut down and the operators warned of relevant punishment.
The government believes it is important to take pre-emptive actions against the sites because they lead many people to start paying for sex.
Brokers post advertisements and people share their experiences on the website, where many beginners find information for their first sex-for-money experience.
However, it remains to be seen if the government will be able to shut down all the sites, because they can reopen with different web addresses.
Also, the site's owners cannot be punished if operators argue that the content posted online is actually false information.
The measures to protect foreign victims of human trafficking also need upgrading.
Foreign victims enter Korea on travel visas via international brokers, who force the women into prostitution when they arrive here. But there is only one support facility for these women in the country.
The ministry will provide more people, mostly interpreters between the foreign women and investigators, to help foreign victims.
The ministry will also strengthen regulations by requiring foreign victims to be accompanied by somebody they can trust during the investigation into violation of human rights.
The government plans to provide more money for support facilities.
"Prostitution brokers are active over a wide range in cyber space," said MOGEF Vice Minister Lee Sook-jin. "We will come up with stronger punishment and more concrete plans for control and prevention of sex trafficking."
The government plans to strengthen its monitoring of websites linked to prostitution and sex trafficking, the gender ministry said, Friday.
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (MOGEF) held a meeting to discuss the measures to control the websites and prevent prostitution and foreign victims.
The ministry will develop a large data-based artificial intelligence program to monitor the prostitution situation in the country.
When the program is operational, the websites will be shut down and the operators warned of relevant punishment.
The government believes it is important to take pre-emptive actions against the sites because they lead many people to start paying for sex.
Brokers post advertisements and people share their experiences on the website, where many beginners find information for their first sex-for-money experience.
However, it remains to be seen if the government will be able to shut down all the sites, because they can reopen with different web addresses.
Also, the site's owners cannot be punished if operators argue that the content posted online is actually false information.
The measures to protect foreign victims of human trafficking also need upgrading.
Foreign victims enter Korea on travel visas via international brokers, who force the women into prostitution when they arrive here. But there is only one support facility for these women in the country.
The ministry will provide more people, mostly interpreters between the foreign women and investigators, to help foreign victims.
The ministry will also strengthen regulations by requiring foreign victims to be accompanied by somebody they can trust during the investigation into violation of human rights.
The government plans to provide more money for support facilities.
"Prostitution brokers are active over a wide range in cyber space," said MOGEF Vice Minister Lee Sook-jin. "We will come up with stronger punishment and more concrete plans for control and prevention of sex trafficking."
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