Advertisement for 'Yeoldo-ui Sonyeodeul' on site
30s Male Business Owner Arrested with Detention Warrant
Three Referral Employees Also Caught in Flagrante
Group Earned Up to 1.55 Million Won per Case
Japanese women who engaged in prostitution in Korea by posting advertisements titled "Girls of the Archipelago" and the group that brokered the deals have been arrested by the police.
On the 11th, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced that they had requested an arrest warrant for Mr. A, a man in his 30s who advertised prostitution with Japanese women online and brokered the deals, on charges of violating the Act on the Punishment of Acts of Arranging Sexual Traffic. This is the first time that Japanese women have been caught engaging in organized prostitution.
The police also arrested three Japanese women on charges of falsifying their purpose of entry (violation of the Immigration Control Act) by stating "tourism" as their reason for entering the country. Japanese nationals can enter visa-free for 90 days if the purpose is tourism, but they abused this. Ultimately, they were caught in the act on the 9th at a hotel in Gangnam, Seoul, on charges including violation of the Act on the Punishment of Acts of Arranging Sexual Traffic.
Investigations revealed that Mr. A and three employees had shared duties related to recruiting for prostitution at an office in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province since the end of last year. They divided tasks such as promotion, managing the women, and brokerage, and posted prostitution advertisements under the name "Yeoldo-ui Sonyeodeul" (Girls of the Archipelago) on an online prostitution site.
The advertisement mainly featured photos of women in school uniform concepts. It also included information such as body measurements and Korean language proficiency. Prices varied widely, ranging from 180,000 won to 1,550,000 won.
Japanese women who posted advertisements for prostitution under the title "Girls of the Archipelago" and engaged in overseas prostitution in Korea, along with the group that arranged it, were arrested by the police. The police also arrested three Japanese women on charges of falsifying their purpose of entry as "tourism" (violation of the Immigration Control Act). The photo is not directly related to the article. [Image source=Pixabay]
The police believe they received between 300,000 and 1,300,000 won per prostitution session. It is reported that the three arrested women earned over 4,700,000 won on the day of their arrest alone. The police transferred their custody to the Immigration Office on charges of violating the Immigration Control Act, as they had entered the country earlier this month for prostitution purposes but falsely stated tourism as their reason for entry.
The police are investigating the exact period of the crimes and the criminal proceeds. Considering that Mr. A and his employees have no recent records of traveling to Japan, the police suspect there may be intermediaries recruiting women locally and sending them to Korea, and plan to investigate this aspect as well.
Meanwhile, there is analysis linking the Japanese women's prostitution trips to Korea with income and exchange rates. The monthly salary of a new university graduate in Japan is 220,000 yen (about 1.93 million won), which is less than Korea's minimum wage (2.06 million won). The weak yen phenomenon has also relatively overvalued the Korean won.
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