right restrictions for the purpose by punishing prostituted women, violates the
principle of minimized loss and infringes on the right to equality by handling sex
trade victims and prostituted women differently in relation to a case of violation
of the particular provision. However, the Constitutional Court ruled that the
provision is constitutional on March 31st, 2016 11 . After the request for an
adjudication on the constitutionality of the provision, the number of people
arrested for sex traffic decreased from 11,675 in 2011 to 5,674 in 2012, 4,414 in
2013, 4,841 in 2014 and 4,440 in 2015. However, in 2016, after the ruling of the
Constitutional Court, the number increased to 17,982.12 Out of arrested people
in 2016, 13,512 people were men (75.14%), 4,274 people were women (31.63%)
and 196 people (4.58%) were unclassified. 13 In most cases, sellers are women
and buyers are men. Punishment for prostituted women seems relatively weaker
as the arrest rate of buyers is about three times higher than that of sellers.
44. However, in the actual application process of the law, punishment based on
Article 21 (1) of the Act on the Punishment of Acts of Arranging Sexual Traffic is
implemented in serious disfavor of prostituted women rather than men who
bought sex. First, when people involved in sex traffic violating Article 21 (1) are
exempted from indictment, male sex buyers are subject to suspension of
indictment on the condition of education (so-called John School education) while
prostituted women are subject to protective disposition based on regulations of
protection cases stipulated in Article 12 and the following articles of the Act on
the Punishment of Acts of Arranging Sexual Traffic. As of 2016, although John
School education is a condition for suspension of indictment, the palpable effect
as a punishment is larger for protection cases since it is sent to a family court in
the jurisdiction and gives an order of protective disposition after a separate trial
11 Constitutional Court 2016.3.31. 2013 Hun-Ga 2.
12 National Police Agency 『Crime Statistics』Current Status of Crime Incidence and Arrest in Case of Violation of the
Act on the Punishment of Acts of Arranging Sexual Traffic (Prostitution) (2011-2016), Korean Institute of Criminology,
Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics (http://www.crimestats.or.kr/main/index.k2?cmd=main) Crime Statistics DB.
13 National Police Agency 『Crime Statistics』Current Status of Crime Incidence and Arrest in Case of Violation of the
Act on the Punishment of Acts of Arranging Sexual Traffic (Prostitution) (2016), Korean Institute of Criminology, Crime
and Criminal Justice Statistics (http://www.crimestats.or.kr/main/index.k2?cmd=main) Crime Statistics DB.