Two men have been arrested for coercing middle school girls to engage in prostitution, police said Sunday.
Nine other men were also booked for having sex with them after paying money, a police station in South Jeolla Province said.
According to police, the girls, who ran away from home months ago, were raped by the two accused and forced to have sex with guests they met through Internet chat rooms.
In Korean from Yonhap here, and currently the most-viewed story on YTN. The Korean articles say the girls were raped in a Gwangju motel.
The most egregious case of forcing middle school students into prostitution---insofar as it's even appropriate to rank cases of forcing middle school students into prostitution---was from two years ago, also out of Gwangju:
Police have arrested three suspects on charges of detaining a middle school girl and forcing her into prostitution with 800 men including a college professor and a doctor. According to police, the suspects held Jeon, a 14-year-old middle school student, against her will in motels in Gwangju, South Jeolla province and forced her to prostitute herself. The suspects are charged with beating Jeon, who pleaded with them to let her go, once every two or three days and burning her hands with cigarettes.
And from another article:
“There was a customer who was a doctor and he saw the bruises on my body, but he still returned 10 times,” the victim was quoted as saying by the police. “Men saw my bruises and wounds, but they did not care. I told them that I was a prisoner, but they just turned away. They were afraid because they were engaged in the sex trade.”
The police said they have obtained 800 phone numbers of men suspected of having sex with the girl. About 40 of them have already been questioned and face charges for having sex with a minor. The police said they will expand the investigation to include all suspected customers.
The police said the victim’s customers ranged from doctors and teachers to students and soldiers.
One of the men questioned is a university professor.
“I did not know she was a minor. Please do not let my university know about this,” the professor was quoted as saying.
7 comments:
How can you not tell that a 14 year is a F***ing 14 year old.
I think there may be a lack of legal enforcement in this country when it comes to sexual assault and rape because if they actually did enforce laws, about 20% of the men in this country would have to be locked up and forgotten about.
Brian, do you know if prostitution is higher in Gwangju than other cities of similar size? I have noticed a lot of it, but I have no idea how it compares to other cities.
I'll amend that: How can you tell a 14-year-old held captive in a motel room is not a 14-year-old held captive in a motel room?
No idea about prostitution stats, I'll have to check and see if I can track anything down. I do know there are several areas where it's, um, "popular," my neighborhood included. It was rather strange to atttend the CHungjangno festival on Saturday, and go a few blocks up the street and see women along the highway flagging down cars and pedestrians.
It's no wonder that they would keep these children off-limits to Westerners as a girl who looked to be actually 12 or maybe 13 might be questioned about it.
I used to use the term, "unbelievable." I wish I still could.
I'll amend that: How can you tell a 14-year-old held captive in a motel room is not a 14-year-old held captive in a motel room?
With effin' cigarette burns, to boot? What a horrible story. I hope more children can be rescued, with this publicity and crackdown.
Brian, I'm sure it's quite obvious she is being held against her will and it's quite obvious she is 14 years old.
Any guy who doesn't have a problem with fucking a 14-year old and paying for the "privilege" of doing so, I'm sure would have little problem with the fact she is a prisoner.
Considering the prevailing attitude by society, and in particular the legal system, which allows for the "But I was drunk" defense, it is not surprising that Korea is steeped in this type of behavior.
Here is a section from an article in the Korea Herald:
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2009/10/20/200910200051.asp
"According to criminal law, those who lack legal capacity due to mental disorder are to be given a commuted sentence, the court in the past frequently applied the rule to mitigate sentences for drunken criminals."
With this kind of logic, there really is no hope that the children will be protected.
I mean.. just.. lol? How does this happen? 800 ? Only in Korea...
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