14 Trillion Won

That’s how much Koreans spent domestically on prostitutes last year.

That’s about US$12.3 billion… or just over a quarter of North Korea’s estimated GNP.

Or 1.7% of South Korea’s 2006 GNP, for that matter.

Granted, this is down 10 trillion won from 2002, when the Special Law on Prostitution went into effect. Experts say, however, that the decrease may be exaggerated, since unregistered places like “telephone rooms” were not included in the study.

The figure was the result of research by the Korean Women’s Development Institute.

Marmot’s Note (repost): Need more reason for South Korea to take responsibility for its own defense? OK, how’s this:

Money spent on whoring in 2007: 14.952 trillion won
ROK defense budget for 2008: 26.7 trillion won