Korean lured compatriots to PH for sex, charged P75K per ‘escort’

MANILA, Philippines—The Bureau of Immigration (BI) will deport a South Korean national who allegedly headed a prostitution ring in Manila that catered to his compatriots coming over from their country, Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. said Thursday.

David said Park Jun Youn, 44, was arrested on April 18 at his rented apartment on Debron Street, Makati City, by members of the BI’s Fugitive Search Unit (FSU).

“He should be deported for taking advantage of Filipino women whom he exploited and lured to have sex with Korean men,” David said in a statement.

Park was arrested based on a summary deportation order issued by the bureau’s board of commissioners against him for being an undesirable alien.

The Immigration Act expressly authorizes the commissioner to order the arrest of an alien who gets involved in prostitution or manages a prostitution house, David said.

Lawyer Ma. Antonette Mangrobang, acting bureau intelligence chief, said the Cheongju district court in South Korea last year issued an arrest warrant for Park after he was charged with violating local antisexual trafficking and brokering laws.

South Korean authorities accused him of enticing scores of South Korean men to travel to Manila between March 2007 and March 2008 to have sex with Filipino women through his “escort service” business.

Park allegedly charged each Korean man a fee of P75,000 to avail himself of an “escort.”

Mangrobang said Park managed to obtain a permanent visa from the bureau in 2010 but this was canceled after it was learned that he was a wanted man in his country.

“A permanent visa does not confer on a foreigner the absolute right to stay in the Philippines. It is only a privilege that can be withdrawn if the foreigner’s presence here is inimical to the national interest,” Mangrobang said.