The pain of U80 prostitutes in Korea

At this age, Ms. Park should have stayed at home to enjoy a happy life with her children and grandchildren, but on the contrary, she still has to spend at least 6 hours on the street looking for customers.

`Are you here for fun or to meet someone? The room fee is 10 USD. The price for a girl is 30 USD,` the woman with gray hair asked when approached by a Channel News Asia reporter in January.

The pain of U80 prostitutes in Korea

`To live, I only have to close my eyes and walk,` Ms. Park confided.

She does this job and hopes to earn $250 per month to buy arthritis medicine.

Can’t do anything else

Ms. Park got married at the age of 19.

At the age of 70, Ms. Park began to have knee pain and could not do anything.

`Even though I’m about to die, I still have to get injections. Every other day I have to go to the hospital for an injection, it’s extremely painful,` she said.

Korea prohibits prostitution.

Ms. Park (center), a 78-year-old prostitute in Seoul, South Korea.

`It’s a shame to say it out loud. I’m ashamed that I’m old and still doing this job,` she said.

Poverty in old age, insufficient pension

South Korea is one of the countries with the fastest aging populations in the world, with nearly 50% of the elderly living in poverty.

Professor Lee Ho-sun, Soongsil Cyber University, Seoul, has researched female prostitutes in Korea for many years.

From 2013 to 2014, the number of elderly women working as prostitutes reached its highest level, with 300-400 people in Jongno district alone.

`I can’t specifically say when they started this profession, but most of them were abandoned during the 1997 currency crisis. Children cannot support their parents like before. Therefore, many workers

According to her, the basic pension of 200,000 won ($240) a month in Korea is not enough.

A place that provides meals for Korean elderly people.

Some elderly people do not want to become a financial burden for their children.

`Times are changing. Previously, one person’s salary was enough to live on, but now, two people’s salary is not enough. Children are not able to take care of their parents. The problem of the elderly in Korea

`Until the problems of Korea’s working-age population are resolved, we cannot handle the problems of the elderly,` she explained.