Campaign starts to kick Korean prostitutes out of Australia
By Na Jeong-ju
大変お待たせ致しました。(^ω^)v
Korean communities in Australia are campaigning to call for a crackdown on Korean prostitutes who have entered the country on working holiday visas.
More than 2,000 Koreans living in Australia have expressed their willingness to join a street campaign in Sydney, an alliance of the communities said Thursday.
“It’s known that about 1,000 Korean prostitutes are working in Australia. That’s about 17 percent of all prostitutes in the country,” the group said in a statement.
“The surge in the number of Korean prostitutes is largely attributed to legal loopholes in the working holiday visa system and a lack of administrative monitoring.”
Unlike Korea, prostitution is legal in Australia. A growing number of Korean prostitutes have flown to Australia as it became more difficult for them to make money here Korea due to a government crackdown on the sex industry, officials said.
According to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, some 30,000 Koreans are staying in Australia on working holiday visas. These visas allow young people aged 18 to 30 to travel, study and work in foreign countries.
“Korean prostitutes have become a social concern here since last year. They attract clients through leaflets and advertisements in local papers,” said Oh Jin-yong, a 27-year-old student living in King’s Cross in Sydney, where a number of Korean-run brothels have been set up.
“The problem is that they do business in residential districts by renting apartments and houses. They are now sprawling into smaller cities.”
The association of Korean communities said Korean prostitutes are a national disgrace.
“Many Australians take the problem very seriously. Korea’s reputation is being tarnished as they see the country as an exporter of prostitutes,” said an association spokesman.
“Some jokingly say prostitutes are one of Korea’s major export items. It is shameful for all of us.”
The association said it decided to launch the campaign to urge the Korean and Australian governments to revise the working holiday system and draw up countermeasures against Korean prostitutes.
In June, police arrested a brothel owner in Sydney on suspicion of hiring Korean sex workers since 2009.
The prostitutes entered the country on working holiday visas with the help of middlemen.
They attracted the women by telling them that “prostitution is legal in Australia so you can work comfortably and also earn a lot of money,” an officer said.
Since the Korean government launched its crackdown on brothels and other sex businesses in 2004 in accordance with the Anti-Prostitution Law, many sex workers have moved to Australia, Japan, the United States and other countries.
A report recently submitted to the National Assembly by the ministry showed that about 50,000 and 30,000 Korean women are engaging in prostitution in Japan and the United States, respectively.
Accordingly, the number of crimes involving Koreans staying on such visas is rising at an alarming rate in Australia and other countries.
The ministry said 72 cases of felonies, including murder and rape, committed against or by Korean working visa holders were reported in Australia in 2009, while no such crimes were reported in 2005.
jj@koreatimes.co.kr,
http://rokdrop.com/2012/05/06/1-in-6-prostitutes-in-australia-are-reportedly-korean/
By GI Korea on May 6th, 2012 at 5:34 pm
1 In 6 Prostitutes In Australia Are Reportedly Korean
» by GI Korea in: Prostitution
Via a reader tip from the Open Thread comes this news that there is supposedly a lot of Korean prostitutes Down Under:
The Australian state with the largest Korean population in the country is currently investigating prostitution involving Korean women, according to a member of the state’s parliament.
Victor Michael Dominello, a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, said that the investigation started at the request of the Korean multicultural committee he set up.
More than 1,000 Korean women are estimated to be involved in prostitution in Australia, a number that increased sharply in recent years, according to data from an Australian civic group. Some data say that about one-sixth of all women providing sex for money in Australia are Korean.
As the numbers grew, the prostitution issue emerged as a diplomatic concern between Korea and Australia. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
For anyone that has been to Sydney the Korean prostitutes working around Kings Cross are pretty obvious. The issue isn’t so much that so many Korean women are working as prostitutes but that many of them are being trafficked into Australia on holiday visas and supposedly coerced into prostitution.
- See more at: http://rokdrop.com/2012/05/06/1-in-6-prostitutes-in-australia-are-reportedly-korean/#sthash.fRdk7ecj.dpuf
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/06/30/korean-pimps-caught-trafficking-australia.html
Korean pimps caught trafficking in Australia
Kim Young-won, Asia News Network (The Korea Herald), Seoul, South Korea | World | Sat, June 30 2012, 7:16 AM
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The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said Friday that it arrested 18 Korean pimps without detention who lured Korean women into working as prostitutes in Australia.
The police said the owner of a brothel, surnamed Jang, 32, together with other brokers brought the Korean women to Australia on working holiday visas. Jang has reportedly been bringing them to his brothel in Sydney since 2009.
He also held drug orgies where he took drugs such as MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy, and forced the women to use them, said the police.
The police are tracing 14 others including two brokers, surnamed Kim, 33, and Kim, 55, who ran a prostitution house.
The broker lured the women, saying that they could work without risk, since prostitution is legal in Australia, and make big money. He introduced 25 women to brothels in Melbourne and Sydney since 2007.
He took advantage of the working holiday visas, which allows people age 18 to 30 can work, travel, and study in the country. He along with a private language school and farm owners made false certificate proving the women were working or studying.
The police said the owners of the prostitution houses gave around 5 million won (US$4,300) to 10 million won to the women as upfront money before they flew over to Australia.
The women could not quit the prostitution because of the money.
When they came late, had a day off or received complaints from customers they had to pay 1.2 million won to 3.6 million won as punishment.
The police said the image of Korea has been tarnished in Australia because negative recognition toward Korea as an exporter of prostitution is spreading among Australian people.
I guess they all have their own reasons why Korean girls are being kicked out of brothels in Sydney. They don't make a lot of money in Korea since brothels are illegal there and it is legal in Australia.
ReplyDeletehi,thank you for your informative comment! that's right, the prostitution business has been offended since 2004 in korea. the clerk working in convenience store is paid per $3/hour,the elite employee of Samson earns $1000/month only,however commodity price in korea is rising. officers and a few business clans keep monopoly on...i guess the korean women don't inform about their work to their parents during in the working holiday....
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