"Korea to introduce human trafficking act to better protect victims," 23 December 2022

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.
[...] 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. [...]

"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. [...]

"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." [...]