A single mom’s death by police raid on prostitution

A single mom (aged 24) died at a motel while trying to avoid prostitution crackdown by the police. The mother of a 7-year-old daughter has become a single mom at the age of 17. She couldn’t find a decent job and her parents were not able to financially support her. She had to leave her daughter to her father, started working at a ticket coffee shop (where a customer buys a ticket for a cup of coffee and prostitution with a delivery woman) and sent money to her father every month.

The police officer who was cracking down on prostitution called a number written on a street flyer and asked the woman to come to a motel. While she was taking a shower, other police officers came in. She asked them to get out while she put on cloths. But she didn’t come out of the bathroom even five minutes later. A police officer came into the room and the woman fell down to the ground, probably jumped out of a window on the 6th floor. Korea’s Sex Trade Prohibition Law punishes both sides who trade sex. It is sure that the single mom violated the law, but the police’s raid can be regarded as illegal entrapment. As prostitution is carried out secretly, it is not easy to catch. Police is using various investigation methods. However, the fact that a police officer called the woman first and paid after she came to the motel cannot be seen as a right way of investigation.

The objective of the Sex Trade Prohibition Law is to nip the bud of prostitution by punishing men who buy sex, taking one step further from cracking down on sex workers at the red light street. This crackdown targeting only women selling sex without men to buy sex is an entrapment to increase the number of achievements. In addition, the police officers didn’t bring any female officer while cracking down on female sex workers. There is no room for excuses since the suspect killed herself while being left alone.

The single mom`s life must have been financially challenged as the economy is getting worse and jobs are fewer. However, surely it is her fault to make ends meet by violating laws, even though she could have had other jobs. Still, this accident leaves a question whether the police had to crack down this way, which resulted in death.