Yangju Police Department officer Kyoung Hee-Jin says the crackdown on prostitution and human trafficking by the U.S. military and the South Korean goverment has had a noticeable effect. (Seth Robson / S&S)
CAMP RED CLOUD, South Korea — A crackdown in recent months by the U.S. military and the South Korean government has reduced vice near camps Casey and Hovey, says a South Korean policewoman who specializes in dealing with prostitutes and human trafficking cases.
Yangju Police Department officer Kyoung Hee-jin, who counsels female sexual assault victims and prostitutes in Tongduchoen, the city surrounding camps Casey and Hovey, praised measures the U.S. Army has taken to crack down on vice in the past year.
Kyoung said U.S. military police and courtesy patrols are taking active steps, along with the Korean National Police, to prevent human trafficking around the bases.
“All the efforts of the U.S. military are helpful. It is pretty much likely that U.S. troops are involved in human trafficking and illegal prostitution with the bar workers in Tongduchoen but it is hard for (the military) to crack down on the cases without direct reports,” she said.
The prosecution of two Toka-ri bar owners for human trafficking last May had an impact on the problem, she said. “The main reason the bar owners got prosecuted was for encouraging the bar workers to be prostitutes and the income from the prostitution did not go directly to the bar workers,” she said.
The cases, which are progressing through the South Korean court system, involved three Philippine women in one case and five in another, she said.
Since she started working in Tongduchoen in December 2003, Kyoung has made regular visits to red-light areas near camps Casey and Hovey to assess the treatment and living conditions of prostitutes and to try to talk them out of working in the sex industry, she said.
Another positive influence on the vice problems near camps Casey and Hovey was the South Korean government’s 2004 initiative to shut down red-light districts all over South Korea, she said. “Since the South Korean government constituted a law against prostitution and human trafficking, I have seen a huge impact on people’s behavior. The law absolutely provides a positive direction for normal people on how to think about prostitution and human trafficking.”
“The record shows that since the law come into effect,” she said, “the woman victims who are forced into confinement and human rights violations have been rescued by police officials many times” throughout South Korea.
Kyoung also suggested that men’s lack of education when growing up is the biggest cause of prostitution and human trafficking. “Men are educated that they cannot control their sexual instincts,” she said. “Women are educated to control their libidos. There is a double standard applied.”
