'Men must be more aware of sex trade'

By Kang Hyun-kyung

Kim Ho-soon, president of the Women’s Human Rights Commission of Korea

While recent sex scandals involving a senior politician and an actor recently made headlines, the leader of a women’s rights agency said a lack of awareness among men regarding the severity of the sex trade underpins the difficulty of combating sex trafficking.

Kim Ho-soon, president of the Women’s Human Rights Commission of Korea (WHRCK), said many men, the end-users of the sex industry, believe buying sex is merely a commercial transaction without thinking about the severity of the problem.

“The notion that sex services are a commodity that males can buy any time seems to still dominate in this society, especially among men. These people claim that demand for prostitution won’t stop as long as there are suppliers,” she said.

“These men must change their perception about the sex trade. They never think about how serious the problems are they are causing with their careless approach toward the sex industry.”

Kim said social leaders should become role models to fight the sex trade and face harsher punishment in cases where they violate the anti-sex trade law _ the Prevention of Prostitution and Protection of Victims Act passed into law in September 2004.

She expressed hope that President Park Geun-hye will take more effective and aggressive steps to counter Korea’s sex industry.

“I would like to see more advanced, bolder action to fight against the sex trade here now that the nation has its first female president.”

Kim recommended Park take steps to raise public awareness about the evils of sex trafficking.

First-time offenders are required to undergo 16 hours on a diversion program, dubbed John School, run by the Ministry of Justice, she said.

“Many of them are unrepentant and even complained about the sex trade ban. Some think they were just unlucky to be caught, without repenting of what they did. This way of thinking is the biggest problem,” she said.

Kim voiced concern about a group of people who sponsor the drive to counter anti-sex trade efforts, such as the Hanteo National Union, a group representing pimps and prostitutes, for spreading misleading ideas.

“The group consists of former owners of brothels, sex workers and sex trade brokers. They sponsor research programs to build a rationale in favor of the sex trade and to try to abolish the ban on the sex trade,” Kim said. “They mislead the public by claiming that sex offenders and sexual assaults against women increased after the government imposed the ban on sex trafficking in 2004. There is no data to support such a ridiculous idea.”

In September, 2012, Hanteo members submitted a petition to the Constitutional Court calling for the removal of the ban on sex trafficking.

They claim there are people who can’t make ends meet unless they provide sex services, saying their livelihoods are under threat since the ban was imposed.

“All these claims are nonsense,” Kim said.

Kim said the WHRCK also plans to expand research on marginalized women who cannot improve their human rights on their own, such as North Korean defectors.

“We were told that many female defectors underwent a variety of ordeals, including sex trafficking, en route to freedom. I assume that many of these women have anxiety disorders or other post-traumatic stress disorders that were not properly treated,” she said.

The commission plans to host an international conference in Seoul to address the status of women’s rights in general in Asia, in June.