Abstract
This paper describes the Korean commercial sex market in the U.S. beyond massage parlors. Prior to this study, the U.S. anti-trafficking efforts have heavily focused on combating massage parlors to fight prostitution and sex trafficking of Korean women in the U.S. This paper introduces the shift of trends taking place within the Korean sex market as a result of changing culture and policies. It then introduces various brothel models exploiting Korean women in the U.S. It also brings a more holistic view of the Korean sex market in the U.S. by relying on primary and secondary sources available in both Korean and English languages. The sources include interviews with law enforcement, Korean and American news articles, Korean non-governmental organization (NGO) reports that included interviews with victims, and the U.S. federal cases involving Korean prostitution and sex trafficking. Lastly, this paper examines the current challenges for the U.S. anti- trafficking efforts because of their insufficient understanding of the U.S. Korean sex market.