A Korean civic group has raised issues over reviews that some Korean males are participating in organized intercourse tourism in Laos. Some reportedly even lease long-term housing in main cities to facilitate the acquisition of intercourse. The pattern, activists warn, has grow to be so widespread that it’s reportedly pushing up native lease costs.
Lee Hyun-sook, head of the civic group Tacteen Naeil, which works to forestall sexual crimes in opposition to minors, revealed the findings throughout a CBS Radio interview on Thursday. Her group has been monitoring on-line chat rooms and Telegram channels that share details about prostitution.
Based on Lee, Korean males have grow to be main prospects at intercourse institutions in Laos. “It’s not tough to search out leisure venues there with indicators written in Korean,” she mentioned. One on-line overview of such venues had over 31 million views, suggesting the size of curiosity amongst Korean customers, she added.
Messages shared in a Telegram chat room that distributes data on prostitution in Laos / Captured from CBS
Lee mentioned extra Korean males are actually residing in Laos for months at a time to buy intercourse, usually renting flats for his or her keep. “These with cash lease very good locations,” she mentioned. “As a result of Laos is comparatively cheap, it’s grow to be a spot the place many can stay comfortably for some time — and with elevated demand, lease costs naturally go up.”
Some males even seem to view this as a part of their post-retirement life-style, in accordance with the civic group. “We noticed messages in on-line chat rooms the place folks say they’re contemplating shifting to Laos after retirement to stay extra freely,” Lee mentioned.
Past the moral and authorized implications of paying for intercourse, Lee expressed concern that a few of these transactions could contain minors. “There was a report final 12 months of a Chinese language-run brothel the place a seven-year-old youngster was discovered,” she mentioned. “Costs fluctuate relying on the age of the particular person concerned.”
Lee emphasised the necessity for cultural change slightly than apathy. “We shouldn’t see prostitution as one thing that simply exists. It’s not sufficient to suppose, ‘I simply received’t do it.’ We want a tradition that rejects it altogether,” she mentioned.
This text from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Occasions, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Occasions.
