A bill is to be proposed for the independence of prostituting women at Busan’s largest brothel ‘Wanwol-dong.’ This bill prescribes support in terms of emergency living costs, housing costs, and vocational training costs for prostituting women.
Support for the prostituting women’s independence and self-sufficiency is considered an important policy to eradicate prostitution, by helping these women escape prostitution through various programs and financial support. Although this bill has been enacted in eight other local governments with brothels nationwide, there is no such bill nor any other provisions in Busan, and it has been pointed out that the legislation of the bill is urgent in Busan. The city council is currently in discussion with non-governmental organizations as to the details of this bill proposal, such as the funding budget and term of support.
In an effort to legislate the bill, Busan Metropolitan Council visited the closed site of Jeonju City’s brothels on November 8. Seonmi Village is considered an exemplary case of a brothel shutdown in progress, taking step-by-step procedures with private to public cooperation since the enactment of the bill by Jeonju City in April 2017.
“We will not only collect citizens’ opinions but also host a public hearing on the direction and details of this bill,” Kim Jae-young, commissioner of Busan Metropolitan Council’s Welfare and Environment Committee said. There are known to be approximately 200 prostituting women at 37 brothels in ‘Wanwol-dong’ currently.
Sources
Chung, Yong-bu. Busan Metropolitan City enacts independence bill for Wanwol-dong’s prostituting women. Financial News (Nov. 4, 2019)
Jo, Jung-ho. Support to free Wanwol-dong’s women from prostitution... Busan Metropolitan Council proposes bill. Yonhap News (Nov. 4, 2019)
Park, Hye-rang. “Wanwol-dong’s prostitution women receive support for living expenses” ... Busan Metropolitan Council to propose bill. Busan Ilbo (Nov. 3, 2019)
* The article which is written in Korean is attached in this post as a PDF file
** Translation by Yonjoo Hong.