By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
More than 1,400 people have been caught buying, selling, or brokering sex around the country over the last ten days, the National Police Agency said Thursday.
The agency launched a nationwide crackdown on brothels on April 6 continuing until the end of May.
It apprehended a total of 1,477 people involved in prostitution during the first seven days, taking 14 of them into custody.
Among those were 15 building owners allowing pimps to conduct business there, 814 customers and 369 prostitutes.
More than half, or 820 of those detained were from Seoul and its surrounding areas ― 340 from Gyeonggi Province, 268 from Seoul, and 212 from Incheon, the nation's second largest port city located west of the capital.
The majority of those caught were at brothels disguised as ``massage clubs,'' the agency said, but 159 were found to have paid for sex from women they met through online chat rooms.
Under the Anti-Prostitution Law, prostitutes and their customers can face up to one year in prison, or a three million won fine, while brokers face up to seven years in prison or 70 million won in fines. Those purchasing or brokering sex with minors face harsher punishment.