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Nearly four in 10 adult Korean men have paid for sex at least once in their lifetime, while the starting age for sexually exploited minors dropped to 14, falling below the previous benchmark of 16, a recent survey showed.
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family convened the third Specialized Committee on Prevention of Violence Against Women on Friday. The task force discussed measures to combat prostitution based on the triennial 2025 Sex Trade Survey, conducted between April and December 2025 by the Korean Institute of Criminology and Justice and the Hansei University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation.
The survey of 1,500 adult Korean men showed 37.7 percent have paid for sex at least once in their lifetime. The rate remained virtually unchanged from 37.4 percent in 2022, but dropped 13 percentage points from 50.7 percent in 2016. Men who paid for sex within the past year accounted for 8.5 percent — or 128 respondents — marking a sharp decline from 20.9 percent in 2016.
Men aged 20 to 24 recorded the highest rate of paying for sex for the first time at 45.4 percent, followed by those aged 25 to 29 at 24.2 percent. Curiosity was the leading motive behind paying for sex for the first time at 41.7 percent, followed by peer suggestions from friends, colleagues or older acquaintances at 29.5 percent, sexual desire relief at 26.9 percent and before major life events such as military enlistment at 26.0 percent.
