Abstract:
Abstract: Prostitution has been rampant in South Korea, exposing tens of thousands
of women to abuse and violence. Beginning in 2000, however, women’s rights
organizations spearheaded a legal reform campaign to change the nation’s prostitution
policy. They drafted and proposed two bills to the National Assembly, which
subsequently enacted them as laws. In passing the new legislation, the South Korean
government vowed to eliminate prostitution as well as protect victims of exploitation and
violence in the sex industry. However, the legislation fails to achieve these goals due to
inherent inadequacies in the language and structure of the laws. This shortfall arises
because the government failed to adequately discuss the breadth and depth of
prostitution’s impact on Korean men and women. Consequently, the legislation retains a
discriminatory attitude towards prostituting women and still criminalizes them unless
they can prove their victim status. It is doubtful that these provisions can protect abused
women in the sex industry, particularly when they face so many barriers in proving their
victim status. To remedy these problems, the South Korean government must reconsider
and rework its prostitution policy so that it is more protective of women engaged in
prostitution and more appropriate for Korean society. It must also rethink enforcement
mechanisms to allow prostituting women to seek help when necessary.
