"Wonjo kyojae" is when a middle age man gives spending money to an underage woman for sex, something practiced in Japan for some considerable time and gaining ground in Korea. 'Wonjo' means financial assistance or support, and 'kyojae' is to date or have a relationship. Instead of paying the bill before or after every visit to a prostitute, a relationship of sorts is maintained, and payment is not for any specific number of 'times.' Since the woman is usually a minor, one would think it easy to prosecute men involved in 'wonjo kyojae,' but whenever the prosecution brings one of these men to court, the court does little more than fine them. Only recently has the Seoul District Court given jail time (ten months) to a 65 year old man who had sex with a 15 year-old he met through a "phone-ting" when one meets ones partner over the phone.

There is a reason that sentences have been so low. The current law prohibiting prostitution only requires a prison sentence of one year or fine of W3 million for the woman and customer involved. There is no law that specifically addresses prostitution by minors, quite ridiculous when one realizes that there are laws that specifically prohibit the sale of cigarettes and alcoholic drinks to minors, calling for sentences of up to than two years in prison or W10 million.

No laws exist to keep a middle age man from paying a teenage boy for homosexual acts either, and nothing to keep a middle age woman from paying an underage teen for the same. This is because the law that does prohibit prostitution defines it as a woman being paid for sex. No where is age given any more serious consideration in sentencing, this despite what such an emotional history can do to someone who is still learning to understand the world.

In some Western European countries and in some American states, prostitution is no longer dealt with by the law. Sex with a minor, however, is treated as a serious crime. Sex with a fifteen year old girl is not prostitution; instead the man involved is dealt with much the way of a rapist, as despite consent, the law specifically notes it as the crime of 'statutory rape'. Using an underage person in the production pornography is also treated as seriously.

There are perhaps many factors that are contributing to the spread of the practice of 'wonjo kyojae'; the collapse of school education, materialism, and increasingly distorted culture of sex. The lack of appropriate laws dealing with the problem has to be the biggest factor of all, and it is to be hoped that the law will be suitably amended to deal with the situation with all due haste.

(September 6, 1999)