HumanTrafficking.org

South Korea - Human Trafficking

The Situation
The Republic of Korea (ROK or South Korea) is a source, transit, and destination country for human trafficking of men and women subjected to forced prostitution and forced labor.

Source  South Korean women and girls are trafficked for forced prostitution abroad in destinations including the United States, Canada, Japan, and Australia. Many of these victims are coerced by traffickers to whom they owe debts.¹

Destination
Some men and women from Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Colombia, Mongolia, China, the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, North Korea, Vietnam, Japan, and other Southeast Asian countries are recruited for employment or marriage in the ROK, and subsequently subjected to forced prostitution or forced labor. Some victims are recruited by false promises of employment in the entertainment industry and are later coerced into exploitative conditions. Some women from less developed countries are recruited for marriage to South Korean men through international marriage brokers, but are then subjected to forced prostitution or forced labor upon arrival in South Korea.²

Migrant workers who travel to the ROK for employment may incur thousands of dollars in debts, contributing to their vulnerability to debt bondage and commonly face conditions indicative of forced labor. There are approximately 500,000 low-skilled migrant workers in the ROK from elsewhere in Asia, many of whom are working under the Employment Permit System (EPS). While protections are implemented for EPS workers, observers claim the EPS assigns excessive power to employers over workers’ mobility and legal status, making them vulnerable to trafficking.³

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