Miari

Mia-ri is one of largest red-light districts in Seoul, South Korea.[1] Located in the Wolgok-dong area at Gireum Station,[2] it is also known as Miari Texas[2] or Texas Miari after the American servicemen that helped popularise the area.[3] The area is entered through a curtain at the entrance to an alleyway.[2] Several other alleys come off this alley.[2][4] Outside each of the buildings stands an ajumma, who tries to entice clients to enter.[2]

Mia-ri
Mia-ri
Nickname(s): 
Miari Texas, Texas Miari
CountrySouth Korea
CitySeoul

History

Even though prostitution was made illegal in 1961,[5] police action was generally limited to the suppression of human trafficking and underage prostitution.[6] The police were often bribed by the brothels.[3]

In January 2000, the district appointed a new police chief, Kim Kang Ja, who was Korea's first female police chief.[3] Kang Ja claimed 80% of the area's 1,500 prostitutes were underage.[3] She instigated many raids[6] to try and eliminate underage prostitution.[3] At least 40 of the estimated 260 brothels were closed,[3] and underage prostitution virtually eliminated in Miari.[5]

Kang Ja's crackdown precipitated a 50-day national anti-prostitution campaign and a change in the law.[3] The law now allowed police to name people who used underage prostitutes, tripled jail sentences and fines for pimps and no longer treated underage prostitutes as criminals.[3]

Following the 2004 anti-prostitution laws, which define prostitution as a form of human trafficking,[7] further police actions occurred in Miari.[6]

References
  1. "3,000 Sex Workers Protest Threat to Livelihood". The Seoul Times. 2006. Retrieved 21 July 2006.
  2. "Miari Texas in Gireum". Rokit Reports. 21 January 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  3. Baker, Michael (10 March 2000). "S. Korea's first female chief of police tackles prostitution". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
  4. Ghani, Faras; Borowiec, Steven (19 March 2018). "South Korea: Sex workers hit hard by government's crackdown". Aljazeera. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
  5. Kim, Seung-kyung; Kim, Kyounghee (2014). The Korean Women's Movement and the State: Bargaining for Change. Routledge. ISBN 9781317817789.
  6. "Hookers complain of hardship after anti-prostitution law enacted". Donga. 22 September 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
  7. "Sex Work Law - Countries". Sexuality, Poverty and Law. Retrieved 23 March 2018.

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