Prostitution crimes down among troops in S. Korea

[unhappycamper]

Prostitution crimes down among troops in S. Korea
By Ashley Rowland, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Friday, September 26, 2008

SEOUL — As South Korea continues a nationwide prostitution crackdown, a U.S. Forces Korea official said this week that the number of American troops visiting brothels in South Korea has dropped in recent years and is now "very low."

Chuck Johnson, action officer for USFK’s Prostitution and Human Trafficking Working Group, said U.S. troops’ participation in prostitution was "a major issue" when the group formed five years ago. Now, about five servicemembers a year get into trouble for prostitution-related crimes, and the lack of business has forced some brothels outside U.S. military installations to close, he said. Johnson said educating troops about human trafficking is working. Servicemembers are required to complete computer-based training on prostitution before or when they arrive in South Korea, and additional training is required twice a year while they’re on the peninsula.

"It’s a sustained, continuous operation," he said.

South Korean police began a nationwide, three-month crackdown on prostitution in July. Police said earlier this month they planned to begin raiding brothels in the "glass house" area near Yongsan Station and on Itaewon’s infamous Hooker Hill in mid-September. Both locations are within walking distance of Yongsan Garrison, home to the headquarters for the U.S. military in South Korea.

A South Korean police officer said no U.S. troops were arrested during the recent sting, although a massage parlor in Hannam-dong, the neighborhood next to military’s Hannam Village housing area, that caters to South Korean businessmen was shut down.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=57654