S. Korea to crack down on prostitution in Australia

S Korea: South Korea will dispatch a state prosecutor to Australia to help curb a boom in prostitution by Korean women there and investigate claims of human trafficking, a report said Friday.

The move forms part of a crackdown in which Seoul will collaborate with Australian authorities to try to break trafficking rings and bring women working as prostitutes home, the Yonhap news agency said.

"The government position is that we must seize this opportunity to eradicate the widespread prostitution by Korean women in Australia," an unnamed senior foreign ministry official was quoted as saying.

Representatives from government agencies including the foreign ministry and justice ministry agreed last week to station a state prosecutor at the South Korean consulate general in Sydney, the report said.

Foreign ministry officials declined to comment on the report.

Prostitution by Korean women in Australia came into the limelight in 2009 when an Australian man, Abraham Papo, was murdered by Chinese gangsters as he attempted to rescue a Korean woman being forced to work as a prostitute.

About 1,000 South Korean women work in the sex trade in Australia, with many in the country on working holiday visas that allow holders to stay for up to a year, according to officials at Seoul's foreign ministry. Reports say that many South Korean sex workers have relocated to Japan or Australia since authorities began taking tougher action in their home country, where it is illegal.

AFP