‘Registered brothels needed’

Kim Kang-ja

This is the last in a series of articles about sex crimes against children and women, alcohol-induced violence and child pornography. ― ED.

Kim Kang-ja, a professor and a former senior police officer, has proposed that strictly-regulated brothels be set up in designated areas.

“There are members of society for whom it is difficult to find partners, such as the disabled, illegal immigrants and widowers. Society needs to address the needs of these individuals by allowing prostitution in restricted areas,” Kim said in an interview with The Korea Times.

“And men who are incapable of controlling their drives will always exist,” added the visiting professor at the department of police administration at Hannam University.

But she said it is necessary to allow brothels to operate, though on a limited basis, because prostitution still continues despite the ongoing war on the sex trade.

According to Kim, who was in charge of sex crimes for seven years with the police force, the law banning the sex trade which went into effect in 2004 has some fallacies that were overlooked during the legislation process.

“One of the biggest problems is that we didn’t, and still don’t have, a big enough police force to crack down on all the illegal prostitution taking place,” she said.

The former chief of Jongam Police Station in northern Seoul said there is a need to ease the current ban, if not scrap it, and legalize the operation of registered brothels in designated areas.

Kim added that her proposal is also intended to better protect women who make a living out of prostitution.

“No matter how hard we try to regulate prostitution and get rid of it, it will always exist. There will always be women who work in the industry and it is virtually impossible not only to crack down on all of them, but also to have a sufficient budget that will help them get out of the business.”

“That is why we need to allow them to continue to make a living,” said Kim. “However, police must step up crackdowns on prostitution carried out in places other than the one designated by the government.

“We must ensure that minors are not employed in the business.

“Having prostitution out in the open will benefit the women who work in the industry as the government will make efforts to prevent the exploitation of them and violations of their rights, which are now rampant.”

Kim spoke of her experience in 2000 when she visited a brothel during the daytime and found women imprisoned inside, being indebted by prepayments.

She positively estimated the government’s efforts to reduce sex crimes by toughening punishments, enforcing chemical castration and strengthening monitoring of convicted offenders.

However, she pointed out that the fundamental factor behind the crimes lies in distorted perceptions about sex.

“Korean men tend to have the wrong idea of what is manly,” she said.

While serving as a policewoman, Kim said she encountered numerous cases in which male police officers accused the rape victims and defended the offenders.

Women also need to make an effort to change the way they think about rape, Kim added.

“Although reports of rape have increased over the past year, women still tend to be hesitant about reporting it.”

Kim said that women tend to think it is extremely shameful for them to be raped, and therefore they are reluctant to report it.

She called on the government and schools to provide proper sex education for students at an early age in a move to change the wrong perceptions.

“Children should be educated about sex starting from kindergarten and it should be designated as a regular subject taught at schools.”

Neither tougher punishments nor closer monitoring of repeat offenders can be an effective, long-term approach to the problem, she said. <The Korea Times/Kim Bo-eun>

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