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KOREA - An illegally paid-for sexual relationship is no longer just for an adult male sponsor and an underage girl, but vice versa too.
The Seoul police have recently been investigating the members of an online community which allegedly arranged paid sex between teenage boys and elderly women, said officials.
Most of the members were young men in their teens and early 20s, who posted their profile and contact number, selling themselves as sexual partners. The female "buyers" were mostly women whose ages ranged from late 20s to 40s, and many of whom were married.
The 17-year-old male high school student surnamed Oh who opened the website in March, said he was inspired by a popular cable TV program which dealt with a master-pet relationship between an adult woman and a teenage boy.
Though Oh denied having entered into an actual relationship via the website, officials suspect otherwise.
"Though the members did not often report on the website the progress of their meeting, we assume that many 'deals' were concluded by telephone," said a police official.
The teenage partner would be paid a daily amount of 50,000-70,000 won ($43-$60) on average, according to officials.
"Those who have won a certain reputation on the website would earn up to 200,000 won per day, a pay considered quite attractive by teenagers," said the official.
Should a female member be caught having sex with an underage youth, she is to be indicted on charges of violating the law of sexual protection of minors, just as a man would be in an inverse situation.
Under the revised law which took effect this January, adults may be punished for merely attempting to lure an underage person into having sex for monetary rewards.
Oh's scandalous online community was not the only one of its kind.
The police have detected some 120 such websites and requested the Korea Communications Commission close down 14 of them, and more are expected to be added, said officials.
Nevertheless, numerous online postings of boys selling sex for financial rewards and of adult women seeking such boys may still be easily found on major portals.
Authorities have yet to face the difficulties of finding valid evidence to prove that sexual relations and monetary transactions occurred.
Some concerned observers, including parents of teenagers, also point out that Korean society is relatively lenient about the concept of paid sexual relationships.
"Even the widely used term 'paid dating' in Korean may fail alarm curious youths or adults," said Kim Moon-sook, a 48-year-old mother of two teenage sons.
In the U.S., on the other hand, a paid sexual relationship with a minor is officially defined as statutory rape.
Also, officials only need to prove that the suspect did indeed have sex with an underage person in order to proceed with the charges.
"An increasing number of adults, regardless of their gender, are taking advantage of their financial situation regarding underage youths," said a police official.
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