By Kim Jong-chan
A former police officer has recently called for the designation of red-light districts to curb sexual offenses against women.
“There are people in our society who feel alienated because of sexual deprivation. There is a need to set up red-light districts in certain areas,” said Kim Kang-ja, a visiting professor at Hannam University in Daejeon who was formerly chief of the Jongam Police Station in Seoul, in a radio program last month.
She is widely reputed for her massive crackdown on prostitutes while in office.
A recent survey said nearly half of citizens responded favorably to the proposed idea of allowing people to buy sex in designated areas.
According to the Korea Gallup poll, 48 percent of respondents supported the proposal, while 42 percent opposed it.
There has been an increase in the number of sexual offenses against women in recent months, prompting a massive public outcry.
They mostly occur on subway trains and areas of close proximity to subway stations. Figures released by the National Police Agency last month, reveals that sexual offences have nearly tripled in the last four years. About 460 cases were reported in 2008, which increased to 681 in 2009, 1,208 in 2010 and 1,313 in 2011. So far 481 cases were reported in the first half of this year.
Workers in the sex industry also called for the scrapping or revision of anti-sex trafficking laws, arguing that it restricts their right of sexual autonomy, according to Yonhap News. Korea banned the sex trade after two pertinent laws went into effect in 2004, dealing a serious blow to the industry.
"Part of the anti-sex trafficking laws about those who sell sex is against the Constitution," a sex worker said in a news conference in Seoul hosted by their trade association, Hanteo, on Sept. 26.
Earlier, another sex worker surnamed Kim submitted a petition to a local court in Seoul to ask for judgment on whether these laws are constitutionally acceptable, Yonhap said. The 40-year-old woman had been fined 500,000 won ($446) for selling sex in violation of the laws in question.
jckim@koreatimes.co.kr