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'A step forward to embrace international human rights standards'
By Jung Min-ho
A new law calling for a clearer definition of human trafficking and improved protection for victims will come into force on the first day of 2023.
Under the Human Trafficking Prevention Act, the crime, also known as trafficking in persons, refers to the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of people by coercion, fraud or other means for the purpose of exploitation including prostitution.
"By adopting the law, Korea is taking a step toward embracing the international standards in acknowledging what it is and how to deal with it," Lee Jae-woong, project manager on the issue at the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, told The Korea Times, Wednesday.
Korea has long been criticized for lacking a specific or consistent definition of the crime, while the forms of human trafficking continue to evolve, making the jobs of police and researchers more difficult.
The law also makes it clear that both foreign nationals in Korea and Korean citizens overseas are subject to legal support if they become victims of the crime. In theory, a person who recruits a woman in, say, the Philippines with false employment promises before sending her to a pimp in Korea ― a common form of exploitation in the E-6-2 arts and entertainment visa system ― should be named and treated as a human trafficker under the law, and the victim will have the right to rescue, interpretation services for a trial and compensation as well as financial support for medical expenses among others.
"The law certainly applies to foreign nationals in Korea. In a broad sense, it also applies to all women working illegally in the sex industry as the law requires the government to consider their individual circumstances such as how much debt they owe to certain people," Lee said.
The law is expected to improve Korea's standing as a country that respects human rights. In July, that status was bruised after the U.S. State Department downgraded Korea by a tier in its annual human trafficking report for the first time in two decades.
Among many issues Korea needed to address, the report pointed out that the authorities, in many cases, penalized foreign sex trafficking victims for illegal acts they committed against their will or deported victims without properly investigating traffickers.
"Sex traffickers exploit some foreign women on E-6-2 entertainment visas ― many from the Philippines and Thailand ― in bars and clubs, including 'foreigners only' bars near ports and U.S. military bases," the report said. "Recruiters and owners of massage parlors fraudulently recruit women for work as professional masseuses in Korea but force them to engage in commercial sex acts, sometimes through passport confiscation, physical violence or threats of deportation or violence."
The report also urged the Korean government to penalize traffickers more severely, saying most of them end up with less than one year's imprisonment, fines or suspended sentences, as this could weaken deterrence and create safety concerns for victims.
Yet the law, which is focused on protecting victims, does not include stronger penalties. Lee said the law is open for further revision as the government is now required to review laws and policies related to the issue every five years.
The same day, officials of the ministries of gender equality, justice and foreign affairs among other government agencies had talks with representatives of the U.S. Embassy over human trafficking issues at the Seoul Government Complex, in which the two sides vowed to deepen cooperation to respond to the problem more effectively.
