HumanTrafficking.org | South Korea

A web resource for combating human trafficking

South Korea

The Situation
South Korea is a source, transit, and destination country for human trafficking.

Source
South Korean women and girls are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation in the United States, Japan, Hong Kong, Guam, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Western Europe. ¹ A small number of migrants seeking economic opportunities abroad are believed to be trafficking victims. ²

Transit
The country was a transit country for victims trafficked from China to the United States. ³

Destination
South Korea is a destination country for women trafficked from Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China (P.R.C.), the Philippines, Thailand, and other Southeast Asian countries for sexual and labor exploitation. Some women and girls were trafficked to become brides for South Korean men or to work in child sex tourism. ⁴ Some victims were recruited by false promises of employment in the entertainment industry but were later coerced into exploitative conditions. ⁵ Many NGOs expressed concern about the child sex tourism in South Korea. Although South Korea has extraterritorial laws to prosecute South Korean citizens for child sexual exploitation abroad, there have been no prosecutions. ⁶

The Republic of Korea Government
The Republic of Korea Government was placed in Tier 1 in the 2007 U.S. Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Report for fully complying with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. There are no reports of government officials complicit in trafficking. ⁷

Human trafficking is criminalized in various laws in South Korea. The 2004 Act on the Punishment of Intermediating in the Sex Trade and Associated Acts criminalizes commercial sexual exploitation, which carries penalties equivalent to those of rape. The Labor Standards Act criminalizes forced labor and carries penalties of up to five years in prison. ⁸ The Juvenile Sexual Protect Act criminalizes sexual exploitation of children. ⁹

Prosecution
In 2006, R.O.K. authorities conducted 190 trafficking investigations and prosecuted 36 cases. The government convicted 25 traffickers, 21 of whom received prison sentences. In response to reports of increased sex trafficking of South Korean women to the United States, the South Korean police sent a delegation to the United States to improve joint cooperation in investigating the organized crime groups behind this trans-Pacific trafficking. ¹⁰

Protection
The South Korean Government funds 47 shelters, 5 long-term group homes, and 27 counseling centers for South Korean and foreign trafficking victims. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family runs a 24-hour hotline which refers victims to shelters. Trafficking victims are eligible for medical, legal, vocational, and social support services. ¹¹ The government offers G-1 visas or an order of suspension for victims who face hardship or retribution at home.

Prevention
South Korea has various activities to raise awareness of trafficking. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (MOGEF) held anti-trafficking seminars, placed 6,380 posters in public places, and held “John Schools” to educate mail clients of prostitution. To prevent labor trafficking to South Korea, the government created the Employment Placement System which recruits foreign workers through government to government channels to replace private labor agencies that recruit for trafficking. ¹²

Recommendations
The U.S. Department of State recommends that the South Korean government should take steps to ensure that the new Employment Placement System of labor recruitment offers greater protections to foreign workers by investigating and prosecuting cases of forced labor among migrant workers. ¹³

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¹ 2007 US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report
² 2006 US Department of State Human Rights Report
³ UNODC: Trafficking in human beings: Global Patterns
⁴ 2007 US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report
⁵ 2006 US Department of State Human Rights Report
⁶ 2007 US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report
⁷ 2006 US Department of State Human Rights Report
⁸ 2007 US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report
⁹ 2006 US Department of State Human Rights Report
¹⁰ 2007 US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report
¹¹ 2006 US Department of State Human Rights Report
¹² 2007 US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report
¹³ 2007 US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report