Korea loves "crackdowns". Whether designed to tackle the scourge of mobile-phone use while driving or to clamp down on drivers stopping past the white line on the roads, South Korean police revel in crackdowns.
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This week the police launched another "crackdown". This one, we are told, is designed to stamp out prostitution. But like so many other examples of myopic enforcement, this attack on a well-entrenched component of Korea's culture and economy has been tried before - and failed.
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Prostitution has been a component of Korean culture for literally thousands of years, and any attempt to eliminate this still viable cultural artifact will not succeed if it does not address the demand for sex services within South Korean society.
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These establishments are in every village and town and in virtually every neighborhood in every city in South Korea . . . The revenue generated is estimated to be more than US$21 billion a year, or more than 4% of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP), according to the Ministry of Gender Equality, which also says more than 500,000 women and girls are employed.
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Now, I was stationed spitting distance from the DMZ for three years, and I bounced in a freelance joint in a little town off-base when I was off duty. I also lived on the top floor. Most of the girls are poor, and there are no jobs in these little shit armpit towns, and it's just ridiculous what the cops do over there. Most of the girls are trying to support extended families. The cops knew that the girls would come to the base for checkups and shots (the docs did it to protect the GIs), yet they'd shake the Mama-san down for 'health violations', even though she ran the cleanest club for 50 miles around. They'd get their take and move on. Coupla times I wanted to twist their little heads off when they got a little too eager, but the last thing you want to do is end up in a Korean jail.
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