Overseas Sex Tours Promoted Online
By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
A packaged sex tour to Southeast Asian countries, called the ``Emperor's Tour,'' is luring men on the Internet.
More than 11.6 million Koreans traveled overseas last year, about 25 times that of 1986. Thailand was the third highest destination choice for Koreans with one million tourists, while the Philippines was fifth with 450,000.
``Male tourists are flocking to these countries. We attribute this to Korean men's sex tours to Southeast Asian countries being on a steady rise," Hur Na-yoon, an employee of the Center for Women's Human Rights, said. ``Moreover, some men do not feel guilty about going overseas to buy sex," she added.
On Internet portals, there are online communities providing information on those tours or arranging them. Just by inserting a few keywords such as Emperor Tour, arranged tour, pretty tour guide or nightlife, anyone can easily get access to all the information that one needs.
Subscribers are given a full-scheduled tour. Local weekly Hankyoreh 21 placed an advertisement on a four-day tour to Shenyang, China. ``Day 1: Experience Korean-style nightlife, return to hotel and spend a night with a Chinese beauty. Day 2: Body massage in the morning, sightseeing in the afternoon, and a night city tour, including a sauna where beauties await. Day 3: Shopping, massage after lunch, experience the nightlife you would never have dreamed of.''
Some of them introduce ways to bargain for beauties at a brothel. They explain how to pick the best-looking woman at a cheap price by waiting till the shop closing time.
To make things worse, many of them do bad things and leave an ``ugly Korean image." According to a survey of 116 Thai and Filipino women in the prostitution business conducted by Naeil Women's Center for Youth Korea, many women criticized Korean men for treating them like sex slaves. Men beat them, called them bad names and played porn videos asking them to re-enact scenes.
Moreover, these sex trades can include illegal drug and aphrodisiac taking. Many Websites facilitate drug-taking too.
To date, there is no provisional law regulating such behavior. The law to prevent prostitution was enacted in 2004, but there haven't been any reported cases of anyone being charged for buying sex abroad. As it stands, there aren't enough personnel to check overseas travelers, a police officer said.
``With a little help from airline companies and tourist agencies, we may find a solution,'' Hur of the women's human rights center, said. Some foreign airline companies play video clips asking the passengers to enjoy their trips without buying sex on their planes to Southeast Asian countries. Also, many civic groups hold campaigns not to buy sex or do bad things in those countries.
``We must remember that Korea once suffered from similar types of tours by Japanese tourists under the name of 'gisaeng (singing and dancing girl) tours' in the 1980s and 90s,'' columnist Kim Seok-su said. ``We should remember the pain and scars we carry through the tours and try to resist these kinds of sexual behaviors in other countries," he added.