{"id":4437,"date":"2020-01-17T11:16:50","date_gmt":"2020-01-17T02:16:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.01.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/?p=4437"},"modified":"2022-01-24T15:32:53","modified_gmt":"2022-01-24T06:32:53","slug":"prostitution-upsurge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/2020\/01\/society-economy\/prostitution-upsurge\/","title":{"rendered":"\uff1cInside N. Korea\uff1ePoverty Forces Rural, Underage Women into Prostitution: Regime Responds with Rallies and Police Stings"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(Photo) The poorest people in North Korea are rural women. Recently, a growing number of women are working as prostitutes in the city. This photograph shows a poor rural woman pulling a cow. Photographed in a rural suburb of Pyongyang in October, 2008 by Jang Jung-gil (ASIAPRESS)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u25c6 Dragged before a crowd to be condemned<\/h2>\n

Authorities are stepping up a crackdown after a sharp increase in prostitution across the country brought on by worsening living conditions. In November and December, residents of North Korea\u2019s third largest city, Chongjin, North Hamkyung Province, were mobilized for several \u201cpublic denouncement rallies\u201d to condemn women arrested for public prostitution. Multiple reporting partners in attendance reported on the scenes. (Kang Ji-won)<\/p>\n

On December 23, a reporting partner in North Hamkyung Province told ASIAPRESS, \u201cAs the number of prostitutes has increased over recent years due to the worsening living conditions across the country, authorities launched a crackdown in mid-November, going so far as to even conduct sting operations.\u201d<\/p>\n

A special security agency known as the \u201cAnti-Socialist Censorship Group,\u201d or \u201cBisa Group\u201d for short, is charged with clamping down on activities that \u201cdisrupt socialist order.<\/p>\n

Women arrested by the agency are either sent to short-term forced labor camps or referred to additional ideological education sessions through the Socialist Women\u2019s Union of Korea. In Chongjin, there were two cases in November and December in which women deemed to be \u201cimmoral\u201d were condemned at public denouncement rallies.<\/p>\n

According to the reporting partner, \u201cPublic denouncement rallies are often held in Chongjin to condemn drug use or Korean drama distribution, but it may be the first time that one has been called to condemn prostitution.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the reporting partner, most of the prostitutes in Chongjin and Musan county are from quite far away and have come to work for a temporary period. The brothels they come to are said to be run by small prostitution rings of about 3-5 women who avoid trouble with the law by colluding with the police.<\/p>\n

For poor women, \u201cselling their bodies\u201d is a last resort for feeding their families. Indeed, most residents are sympathetic to the plight of women denounced at rallies, saying, \u201cIt\u2019s easy to sell your body. Wouldn\u2019t you do the same if facing death?\u201d
\nNext page :Rural women and teenagers fresh out of high school forced into prostitution...<\/strong>
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\u25c6 Rural women and teenagers fresh out of high school forced into prostitution<\/h2>\n

According to a female reporting partner, speaking to ASIAPRESS on December 26 from Hyesan, the number of women forced into prostitution also surged in Ryanggang Province, prompting authorities there to begin a crackdown as well.<\/p>\n

According to a survey conducted by the reporting partner, there are women from the city who do \u201cpersonal work\u201d through their mobile phones but there are also many women from nearby rural areas who are engaged at brothels. These women answer to a \u201chead mom\u201d and are said to receive 50-120 RMB per guest. This fee may rise to 300 yuan, depending on the age of the girl. (10 Chinese won is equivalent to 1,650 South Korean won). The reporting partner confirms that some of the sex workers are minors who have just graduated from high school.<\/p>\n

Most prostitution takes place at the houses of merchants who spend the day at markets. To rent the house for the day, the \u201chead mom\u201d will usually pay the owner 20-30 RMB.<\/p>\n

Most rural women come to work at the brothels in Hyesan in late fall, following the harvest. Before traveling, they tell their superiors at the cooperative farms that they \u201cwill be gone for 10-15 days to do business.\u201d During this period they become engaged in prostitution under the command of the \u201chead mom.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHere [in North Korea], it is really hard to sell yourself- it\u2019s hard because everyone is living at the bottom. I even heard recently that a guest at a brothel bumped into his niece working there. The increase in homeless children and prostitutes over the past year is all due to the worsening economic conditions,\u201d said the reporting partner.<\/p>\n

\u203b ASIAPRESS contacts reporting partners in North Korea through smuggled Chinese mobile phones.<\/p>\n

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