K-Pop group Oh My Girl detained at LA airport on suspicion of being sex workers

[EX500rider]

Source: BBC



A pop group has flown back to South Korea after officials in Los Angeles thought they might be sex workers.
The eight members were travelling to America for an album cover shoot but were detained for 15 hours in customs.
A statement from the group's record company, WM Entertainment, said authorities held them after going through their costumes and props.

"They seem to have mistaken them as sex workers," said a spokesman.
The band members are all aged between 16 and 21.

South Korean pop music, known as K-pop, is dominated by girl and boy bands whose members are sometimes as young as 13 or 14 years old.

In 2012, the government clamped down on over-sexualised performances by threatening to give higher age ratings to films, music videos and TV shows which exaggerated the sexuality of younger singers and bands.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/35071156/k-pop-group-oh-my-girl-detained-at-la-airport-on-suspicion-of-being-sex-workers

[Feeling the Bern]

1. WTF? Look, I know, K Pop sucks. I know, I lived in Korea and was subjected to it daily

But get fucking real!

우리의 경찰 기관은 바보 같은 바보에 의해 실행됩니다.

[snooper2]

9. Yeah, Old men wanting schoolgirls, NEVER HAPPENS, "Schoolgirls for Sale in Japan"

VICE



Japan’s obsession with cutesy culture has taken a dark turn, with schoolgirls now offering themselves for “walking dates” with adult men. Last year the US State Department, in its annual report on human trafficking, flagged so-called joshi-kosei osanpo dates (that’s Japanese for “high school walking”) as fronts for commercial sex run by sophisticated criminal networks.

In our exclusive investigation, VICE News host Simon Ostrovsky will bring you to one of Tokyo’s busiest neighborhoods, where girls solicit clients in their school uniforms, to a concert performed by a band of schoolgirls attended by adult men, and into a café, where teenage girls are available to hire by the hour. But the true revelations come behind closed doors, when schoolgirls involved in the rent-a-date industry reveal how they’ve been coerced into prostitution.

[LanternWaste]

13. Who came to that conclusion, and when?

"Old men wanting schoolgirls, NEVER HAPPENS..."

Who came to that conclusion, and when? Or are you simply forwarding non-existent premise to have something to argue against?

[Feeling the Bern]

15. Japanese businessmen are the biggest purchasers of paid sex in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia

Second in Indonesia, third in Malaysia.

[Tab]

16. Yeah, but they don't travel in planes to the U.S.

I don't think we have a lot of groups of Kpops being imported in plain sight for sex worker purposes.

[Rex]

18. They were in America and they are not Japanese.

Fail, sometimes when all you can think of is a lame argument, best not to.

[EX500rider]

21. man that was one creepy video.....

[nomorenomore08]

23. I (kind of) see what you were getting at, but it's still a bit of a non sequitur...

[Jack Rabbit]

11. Spot on.

Google translate is my friend.

[SoapBox]

2. U.S. Customs and Immigrations...

There are some real morons and power hungry idiots working in that department...they have ultimate power over stuff like this and things being brought in from outside the country. One's worst nightmare would be to return from an international trip and get harassed by one of these creeps...they could make your life a living hell if they decide to pick on you.

Problem is, they stop the wrong people!

[The empressof all]

3. Seriously?

Don't they use the Google?

[Major Nikon]

10. Maybe they did and sent them back just because they suck

Too bad it didn't work with Bieber.

[alcina]

14. Did Bieber sneak back over the border again?

He was just in Toronto the other night. Slippery little bugger, that one.

[Throd]

4. 15 hours seem like a long time to sort this out.

I think customs should be looking for under aged sex workers (slaves), but I would think an established K-Pop band would be pretty easy to verify.

[winstars]

7. Just guessing that it that it was 15 hours before the flight that they made them depart on left LAX.

Fucking idiots though, even if they did not speak English it ain't hard to find a Korean translator...

The Google just gave me like 44,000,000 results for:

K-Pop Oh my girl

WTF???

[patsimp]

5. what a stupid decision

[mainer]

6. So a group of cute chicks flies to the US

and the first thing customs thinks of is 'sex workers"? What dirty minds.

[Feeling the Bern]

8. Stereotypes. You had to hear what I was told about Thai and Cambodian women

when I was in Arizona.

All from people that have never been to either country (I have, both of them on numerous occasions).

[FrodosPet]

34. Customs should ABSOLUTELY be trying to stop human sex trafficking

But they need to be more sensible about it.

https://www.traffickingresourcecenter.org/type-trafficking/sex-trafficking

Sex trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery in which individuals perform commercial sex through the use of force, fraud, or coercion. Minors under the age of 18 engaging in commercial sex are considered to be human trafficking, regardless of the use of force, fraud, or coercion.

Sex traffickers frequently target victims and then use violence, threats, lies, false promises, debt bondage, or other forms of control and manipulation to keep victims involved in the sex industry for their own profit.

Sex trafficking exists within diverse and unique sets of venues and business including fake massage businesses, escort services, residential brothels, in public on city streets and in truck stops, strip clubs, hostess clubs, hotels and motels, and elsewhere.

[Sunlei]

12. Our USA "U.S. Customs" need a lot more training on who they detain for 15 hours!

[Jesus Malverde]

20. It's likely the next flight out.

Sounds dramatic but when they deny a visa they hold you until the next flight.

[MADem]

32. TMZ said ten hours, until the next flight-and I believe them. nt

[valerief]

17. One thing's for sure. More of us know who these girls are now. nt

[MADem]

36. A win for the group's manager, even if he didn't get away with making money on a tourist visa

and perhaps getting away with not reporting it to the IRS....!

Have to wonder if he's pulled this stunt before?

Next time, he'll send the costumes ahead and have them travel with just carry on luggage!

Of course, now he's on a list of people who try to smuggle in people on tourist visas to work for pay in USA! He won't be able to go with them...!

[Jesus Malverde]

19. The probable cause

Is they flew to the USA on tourists visa, but admitted they were here to work (the photo shoot). Visa rules get enforced at the border. Even tho we ignore them once past it.

[proverbialwisdom]

24. Very likely.

http://touch.latimes.com/#section/1780/article/p2p-85301702/

Oddly, this link has been on the LATimes homepage since 11/19 like a PSA: http://touch.latimes.com/#section/600/article/p2p-85094711/

[Jesus Malverde]

25. Thanks for the links...nt

[nomorenomore08]

22. ...

[MADem]

26. This was a real screw up on the part of customs/immigration...

Last edited Sat Dec 12, 2015, 05:40 PM - Edit history (1)

Don't those idiots have YOUTUBE? They're ALL over it...

I'm editing to agree w/Jesus, below....they didn't screw up at customs. The manager screwed up and tried to turn a trash situation into publicity treasure....

[Jesus Malverde]

28. Actually probably a screw up from their agent.

Who sent them to the states on tourist visas. You cannot come to the united states and work on a tourist visa. Probably very straight forward beaurcratic by the book process. They may have initially suspected them of being sex workers, but likely deported for not having the right visa. In this case a performers visa.

“As young women, they were mistaken as ‘working women’ which has recently been a big issue in the U.S.,” the company wrote in the Korean-language statement. Representatives also hinted at a visa problem, writing that the group “did not need a performance visa” because they were participating in a promotional event rather than holding a solo concert.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-k-pop-group-denied-entry-lax-20151211-story.html

[MADem]

30. More.....it was ten hours, not fifteen.

But our sources say, what really happened was that the girls tried entering on a visitor visa. When customs officials noticed they were traveling with a ton of luggage that included costumes and other markers, they started asking questions and realized the group was here to perform.
Our sources say the proper papers would have been a Performer Visa, which they didn't have. So the girls were held in the customs office for around 10 hours until they could catch a flight home.
The girls were supposed to perform at the Beverly Hilton Hotel Saturday at an event ... Unforgettable, 2015.
At least their trip was unforgettable.


Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2015/12/12/oh-my-girl-korean-group-prostitutes-customs/#ixzz3u8kjMNay

[AngryAmish]

27. Discus the efficacy of DHS in this case vis a vi Syrian refugees

[Kalidurga]

29. That is very strange

I guess it's a good thing I am not a customs agent. Because when I see a group of Asian women/teens my first thought isn't that they might be sex workers.

[MADem]

31. Apparently it is an actual problem.

Has been for awhile. South Korea exports a lot of sex workers, apparently. That said, I wouldn't think these teenagers would be mistaken for prostitutes, given that they all wear matching costumes and are obviously a performing group (which was likely the reason they were sent home--but the other excuse generates more publicity, I guess):

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-ktown-nightlife-20151130-story.htm

How LAPD vice is cleaning up K-town's less savory side


http://www.sunherald.com/news/local/crime/article47423875.html

Jackson County District Attorney Tony Lawrence and the Jackson County Sheriff's Office temporarily shut down the business Nov. 20. They served the temporary restraining order to Hwang, 41, and Hana Sanghee Bergeson, the registered agent of the business. A judge ruled Monday to keep the business closed until a Feb. 29 hearing to determine whether to shut it down permanently.

At the time of a Nov. 18 raid, authorities said four women, all believed to be sex slaves, lived there and were not allowed to leave. Food and water were brought in to them.

Authorities have also received statements from people at the business who said sex acts occurred there.

All of the women working as the alleged sex slaves were Korean nationals under age 30 who spoke little English. They were taken to an undisclosed location.

Read more here: http://www.sunherald.com/news/local/crime/article47423875.html#storylink=cpy

http://blog.chron.com/newswatch/2012/06/harris-county-moves-to-shut-down-3-parlors-club/

The petitions allege that the spas are dens of prostitution and human trafficking. Proprietors use young women, mostly from Korea, to perform services, according to senior assistant county attorney Fred Keys, the lead lawyer on the cases. The county claims that Nite Moves is the site of gang activity, drug sales and other illegal acts. The club and the shopping center are owned by George Naddour of California.

[Kalidurga]

33. No doubt it is a real problem

I have no idea how to solve that particular problem. But, detaining people on the flimsiest of suspicion is not the answer. Perhaps, better training in what to look for.

[MADem]

35. I think TMZ got it right. They came in on tourist visas, intending to perform.

The costumes tipped off customs that they were performers (not sex workers) and the visas did not match.

They were told they had to go home because their paperwork was bad, and they left on the very next available flight--ten, not fifteen hours, later.

The manager, in high dudgeon because he got CAUGHT shortcutting on the visas, tossed in the "Waaaaaah-sex workers" charge for two reasons:

1. To distance himself from the guilt of not getting the proper visa (which would alert the IRS to tax their earnings--so golly gee, he's a TAX CHEAT, too);

2. To create publicity for the group where there was none before. Now, at minimum, thousands of people are aware of this group, when they hadn't heard of them a few days ago.

See? A win-win for him.

The customs people, on the other hand, cannot respond to charges of "DUUUH, Youse Guys are STOOOPID" with details--why? Because it would violate the privacy of the travelers. They're muzzled, but the manager can lie out his ass without consequence.

[Kalidurga]

37. Well TMZ has shocked me again

I guess in a good way. This makes a lot more sense. Visas not matching could be a serious thing, I dunno what mischief a person could do with that but I assume some clever person would know.

In any case it's too bad the girls were caught in the cross fire if they had no idea this was going on. That has to be stressful especially if you are in a room with a couple people that may not speak your language.

[MADem]

38. It takes longer for the IRS to nab 'em, too. They've got to pay US taxes on their earnings.

I think that's what the manager was trying to cough-pocket-cough avoid, paying that tax money~!

I'm betting--in LA, especially--they had a Korean translator handy. Nowadays, too, you can just skype into a translation service and get a live translator to help you. And, push come to shove, there's always the old standby, "Google Translate"-- it's not perfect, but if you keep it simple, you can get the point across.

I'll bet they had a good sense of what was going on. Wrong visa, no admittance!

If they're smart, they'll get a new manager~!

[Kalidurga]

39. Yes that should be a huge red flag right there

Someone that breaks the law for money is likely to have no problem dipping into your pay too.

[Marrah_G]

40. Human trafficking is a problem

I can see why the agents would be suspicious of 4 pretty, young girls traveling without their parents. I think much of America is not educated on the amount and types of trafficking going on.