History Premodern era Kisaeng , women from outcast or slave families who were trained to provide entertainment, conversation, and sexual services to men of the upper class. Before the modernization of Korea, there were no brothels , but a caste of the women for the elite landholding classes performed sexual labor.
This was the result of negotiation between the Korean government and the US military, involving prostitution for United States soldiers in camp towns surrounding the US military bases.
The government registered the prostitutes, who were called Western princesses , and required them to carry medical certification. The US military police provided for the security in these US camp town prostitution sites, and detained the prostitutes who were thought to be ill, to prevent epidemics of sexually transmitted diseases. This government involvement was in the past motivated in part by fears that the American military, which protected South Korea from North Korea , would leave.
However, the Korea Women's Development Institute suggested that from , to 1. The people responsible for this policy claimed that they want to put an end to a culture in which men get drunk at parties and go on to buy sex.
The courts prosecuted 35, clients , 2. While not all of them are operating to full capacity, some still exist while being tolerated not only due to the vast amount of money that is involved in the business, but also in an attempt to control the sex industry.
