`N. Korean women turning to prostitution, porn to earn money`

`N. Korean women turning to prostitution, porn to earn money`. October. 10, 2011 00:30. shcho@donga.com.

More women in North Korea, including schoolgirls, are turning to prostitution to earn living expenses or spending money, an informed source on North Korean affairs said Sunday.

“Moral decadence is intensifying in North Korea lately amid the waning grip of authorities over its citizens due to the prolonged economic crisis and the introduction of Western sex culture,” the source quoted a North Korean who defected early this year as saying.

“A growing number of women are engaged in prostitution to earn living expenses or pocket money,” the source said. “School girls have also served as prostitutes to buy mobile phones.”

Rumors say the term “8/3 couple,” meaning people engaged in extramarital affairs, is spreading widely. 8/3 refers to the day in August 1984, when then North Korean heir apparent Kim Jong Il instructed authorities "to use by-products from factories or workplaces to produce daily necessities for people.” The term is changed to sarcastically mean “pseudo” and “fake.”

The source said even professional vendors have emerged who mobilize women to make pornographic videos and sell them. According to defectors from the North Korean military, a North Korean military officer was caught in March for producing a pornographic video featuring a young woman and selling it to China. The officer was sentenced to undergo ideological training.

One X-rated video is known to cost 30,000 won (25 dollars) to 40,000 won (34 dollars. The average monthly wage of a North Korean worker is about 2,000 to 3,000 won.