Prostitution in North Korea is illegal, and according to the North Korean government does not exist, but it is still practiced discreetly.
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State prostitution
The North Korean government engages in forced prostitution. Its prostitutes are known as manjokcho (만족조 "satisfaction team(s)") and are organised as a part of the kippŭmjo, who are drafted from among 14- to 20-year-old virgins, trained for about 20 months, and often "ordered to marry guards of [Kim Jong-il] or national heroes" when they are 25 years old. For a girl selected to serve in the kippŭmjo, it is impossible to refuse, even if she is the daughter of a party official. Manjokcho must have sex with male high-ranking party officials. Their services are not available to most North Korean men. Not all kippŭmjo work as prostitutes—the source used is unclear as to whether only adult women are assigned to prostitution, or whether there is prostitution of children; other kippŭmjo activities are massaging and half-naked singing and dancing.
Female defectors in Northern China
North Korean women are increasingly falling victim to sex exploitation in China attempting to escape poverty and harsh conditions in their homeland. Nearly 10,000 women are reported to have escaped from North Korea to China; many of them are forced into sexual slavery according to human rights groups.
According to a source from 2005, "60 to 70 percent of North Korean defectors in the People's Republic of China are women, 70 to 80 percent of whom are victims of human trafficking." Violent abuse starts in apartments near the border, from where the women are then moved to cities farther away to work as sex slaves. When Chinese authorities arrest these North Korean slaves, they repatriate them. North Korean authorities keep such repatriates in penal labour colonies, execute any Chinese-fathered babies of theirs "to protect North Korean pure blood" and force abortions on all pregnant repatriates not executed.
The North Korean government permits some women to cross the border to work in food preparation facilities, and some moonlight as prostitutes.