Caption : South Korean women working in the sex industry stand on a stage during a rally in central Seoul on September 22, in protest at frequent crackdowns by authorities. In this guest post for The Grand Narrative, he outlines key events that led to the adoption of the problematic law and the motivation for his research:. In September , the notorious Gunsan Brothel Fire killed five women who had been held captive.
By passing these new laws, the government vowed to eliminate prostitution and protect victims of exploitation and violence in the sex industry. The laws drew inspiration from the Swedish Violence Against Women Act the Kvinnofrid law from , which criminalises the purchase of sexual services but aims to protect women working in the sex industry.
The success of the Swedish model remains heavily contested. In , the government issued an evaluation report that found that the law had achieved its objectives, to which government member Camilla Lindberg and opposition member Marianne Berg responded by publishing a bi-partisan article stating that the law had not only failed to protect women but instead hurt them, and thus had to be repealed.
Surveys have shown time and again, that despite being illegal, prostitution remains widespread in South Korea. In Sweden, sex workers who were unable to work indoors were left on the street with the most dangerous clients and little choice but to accept them. Since , Korean sex workers have repeatedly staged organised protests against the Anti-Sex Trade Laws and police harassment, most famously in May , when pictures of sex workers dousing themselves in flammable liquid made global headlines.
Caption : South Korean prostitutes in underwear and covered in body and face paint, douse themselves in flammable liquid in an apparent attempt to burn themselves after a rally in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, May 17, Hundreds of prostitutes and pimps rallied Tuesday near a red-light district in Seoul to protest a police crackdown on brothels, with some unsuccessfully attempting to set themselves on fire.
