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After a fact-finding visit to the South Pacific island nation of Kiribati, the National Youth Commission revealed that Korean fishermen had not stopped buying sex from young girls there. It¡¯s been two years since the commission paid a visit to Kiribati after child prostitution there grabbed international attention. During their latest trip, seven out of 24 female prostitutes the commission met were between 14 to 18 years of age. The Koreans did not want to use condoms, so three of them had had children and two were pregnant.
The parliament of Kiribati, a nation measuring some 800 sq.km with a population of just 85,000 people, had for a time banned Korean fishing vessels because the hundreds of Korean fishermen who stopped in Kiribati each year triggered a rise in prostitution, while over 80 children who had no idea who their fathers were born through such encounters. The word ¡°Corea¡± has become synonymous with brothels. The worst insult that can be uttered in Kiribati is ¡°you¡¯re like a Corean.¡±
The misdeeds of these ¡°ugly¡± Koreans captured global attention at a conference in Thailand in 2004 on ways to combat child prostitution. The following year, the National Youth Commission joined hands with the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries and the Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry to conduct a study on the extent of prostitution in the South Pacific, and announced it will extend domestic regulations to outside of Korea to protect children and prevent prostitution.
But according to the latest study, the practice stopped for just six months, when the entry ban was being enforced. But since the ban was lifted, use of prostitutes by Korean fishermen has resumed. The Korean government has simply made a lot of noise and done nothing.
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