Activists seek assistance for ‘Kopinos’ in Philippines

“While visiting the Philippines, male Korean tourists have sex with minors, prefer sex without protection, and are known to father children without taking responsibility for them, according to an activist group.

Lee Hyeon-sook, director of non-profit group TACTEEN established to campaign against sex with minors, said that sex tourism has resulted in “Kopino children” born to visiting Korean men and Philippine prostitutes.

Activists say that there are approximately 10,000 Kopino kids living in dire poverty in the Philippines. Some of them also sell sex to survive, they said.

Lee said that no one takes responsibility for these children.

“I met a Kopino girl who was only 12 or 13 years old at a shelter based in Manila last year when I visited to investigate the sexual exploitation of children there by Korean men,” she said.

“The girl was rescued after being forced into providing sex services for tourists through human trafficking. Underage sex is common there and Korean men are notorious for their preference for underage children.”

As part of their effort to stop child sex tourism, Korean and Philippine activists gathered in Seoul Monday to launch a campaign to stop sex tourism to the Southeast Asian country where teenagers in poverty are forced through economic need to have sex with tourists.

During the seminar held at the conference room of the National Human Rights Commission, they presented the findings of their investigation into child sex tourism perpetrated by Korean men and the exploitation of Philippine women.

Amihan Abueva, president of ECPAT Philippines, cited the lukewarm actions of the Filipino government on sex trade as one of the root causes of the lingering problem.

“Prostitution is illegal in the Philippines. But the women working in the red-light districts get regular health cards issued by the government,” she said. “There is a big gap between what’s in the law and what’s actually happening in reality.”

Abueva called on Korea and the Philippines and the civic sector to work together to resolve the problems facing Kopinos.

In response, Philippine Ambassador to Korea Luis Cruz said the Philippine Department of Social Welfare and Development is taking care of the vulnerable Kopino children.

Cruz said that local law enforcement bodies intervene to track down Korean males seeking sex with minors.

“We even have Korean speakers in the national police. And the Korean Embassy (in the Philippines) has police attaches. They are there to assist,” he said.

He called on Korean visitors, especially men, to show respect to local people and customs. “They should understand our culture; (and) what it means to respect people who are living there.”

Daniel Edelson, a law professor of Seoul-based Soongsil University, argued that the government needs legislation to protect the Kopino children.

“There is something fundamentally disgusting about the fact that if I were someone else’s father or the child of my own country, I would take responsibility for them. The notion that one can go to another country and have a child, but have no obligation toward the child shocks the conscience,” he said.

Lee said the campaign to fight for Kopinos has yet to gain public attention because elements of the tourism industry are not taking the issue seriously.

“Years ago, we proposed that airline companies show a video clip about child sex tourism to raise awareness of the problem. But they turned it down,” she said.

TACTEEN activists plan to propose the idea to the airlines again.”
Activists seek assistance for ‘Kopinos’ in Philippines

[Korea Times 6/19/13 by Kang Hyun-kyung]

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