The Koreanization of the Australian Sex Industry: A Policy and Legislative Challenge

South Korea enacted legislation in 2004 that penalizes pimps, traffickers, and sex industry customers while decriminalizing people in prostitution and offering assistance to leave the sex industry. In contrast, Australia legally recognizes most sex industry activities. This article argues that Australia’s laissezfaire approach to the sex industry hampers South Korean government efforts to prevent the crime of sex trafficking. Since 2004, pimps and traffickers have moved their activities from South Korea to countries like Australia and the US that maintain relatively hospitable operating environments for the sex industry. The Australian government should reconsider its approach to prostitution on the basis of its diplomatic obligations to countries like South Korea and the need to uphold the human rights of women in Asia who are being trafficked and murdered as a result of sexual demand emanating from Australia. Australia should coordinate its policy on prostitution with South Korea to strengthen the region’s transnational anti-trafficking response.