More Korean human trafficking -- now it's women

The government has cracked down on the sex trade in Korea, but now business has gone underground -- with much of it headed for the U.S. The SF Gate is running a four-part special report on sex trafficking in San Francisco. The first part includes an audio slideshow on the industry in Korea, and upcoming parts of the series will share the stories of former Korean sex slaves.

Part I:
"Sex Trafficking: San Francisco Is a Major Center for International Crime Networks That Smuggle and Enslave"

View the audio slideshow.

Some excerpts from the first part of the series:

"Human trafficking is a multibillion-dollar business. In terms of profits, it's on a path to overtake drug and arms trafficking," said Barry Tang, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement attache with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in South Korea. "There's a highly organized logistical network between Korea and the United States with recruiters, brokers, intermediaries, taxi drivers and madams."

Yuki, 25, who fears for her safety and only gave her first name to The Chronicle during an interview in Seoul, said she was trafficked from South Korea to a karaoke bar in Inglewood (Los Angeles County), where she was assured that she would simply be serving drinks to men. Once there, she was ordered to sell $3,000 worth of drinks each month. When she failed, she was sent to the "touching room," a private suite where men could have their way with her for $400.

Women report being beaten, raped and starved by their keepers. Kim, who also withheld her last name, told The Chronicle in an interview in South Korea that she was forced to pay $4,400 for plastic surgery to open her eyes and make her nose thinner and pointier, "like Marilyn Monroe."

Those who have become witnesses have been burned with acid, have disappeared, or have had their homes ransacked and their families harmed or threatened in their home countries, said Dong Shim Kim, head counselor at Du Re Bang (My Sister's Place), a shelter for sex trafficking victims in South Korea.

[Mayor Gavin] Newsom put together a team of health and safety inspectors in summer 2005, shortly after California's largest sex-trafficking bust -- Operation Gilded Cage -- made it clear that a lot of the sex in the massage parlors was not consensual.

City officials were taken aback that all 100 masseuses removed from the 10 parlors in San Francisco were Korean, just like the 45 others arrested statewide on charges of running an international sex trafficking ring. The federal case is pending.


Related articles:
"Alleged sex-trade ring broken up in Bay Area: Police say Koreans in massage parlors were smuggled in"

"Officials ask if sex trade forced on South Koreans: Women allegedly not told they'd be prostitutes in U.S."

Updated (10/10/06):

Part II - "A Youthful Mistake: You Mi was a typical college student, until her first credit card got her into trouble"

Part III - "Diary of a Sex Slave: You Mi is put into debt bondage -- life becomes an endless cycle of sex with strangers"

Part IV - "Free, but trapped: In San Francisco, You Mi begins to put her life back together -- but the cost is high