Paju Sex Workers Pledge to End Prostitution for Good as District Faces Complete Closure.

Brothel owners and sex workers from the Daechubeol prostitution district in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, have publicly declared that they will permanently stop prostitution, marking a significant development in the city's long-running effort to dismantle the area.

The declaration was made on September 3 outside Paju City Hall, where more than 20 business owners and workers from the district said they would no longer engage in prostitution and intended to transition toward lawful livelihoods. The area, historically known as Yongjugol, has been the focus of an extensive municipal closure and redevelopment campaign.

See related article: Chhattisgarh HC quashes ITPA case against consenting adult sex workers.

A public commitment to end prostitution

According to SBS News, participants at the September 3 press conference said they were voluntarily ending prostitution and wanted to work with local residents to create a new community.

The group acknowledged years of conflict surrounding attempts to dismantle the district but said they now wanted to align themselves with the city's policy of closing the red-light district.

They also called for practical discussions about helping affected residents and workers move into lawful occupations and revitalizing the area's struggling commercial environment.

The declaration does not, however, amount to agreement on every aspect of the redevelopment process.

The participants specifically emphasized that ending prostitution should be treated separately from questions involving property rights, compulsory acquisition or a particular redevelopment model. They argued that those issues should be discussed independently with landowners, building owners and other stakeholders.

What is Yongjugol?

The district formerly known as Yongjugol developed around the U.S. military presence in South Korea following the Korean War. Over several decades, it became one of the country's best-known red-light districts.

Its scale was once considerably larger than it is today. Maeil Business Newspaper reported in 2025 that the area had historically contained more than 200 establishments and hundreds of workers, while the number of operating establishments had already fallen dramatically as authorities pursued closure and redevelopment.

The district's decline has taken place alongside changes in Korean law and enforcement policy. South Korea's 2004 legislation criminalized the buying and selling of sex, contributing to the decline of traditional red-light districts around the country.

Paju's long-running closure campaign

The latest declaration comes after several years of increasingly aggressive municipal measures.

In a 2025 report, The Korea Times described Paju's strategy as combining enforcement with programs intended to help women leave prostitution. The city established a support facility in the former Yongjugol area and expanded programs offering living assistance, housing support, vocational training and other forms of assistance for women seeking alternative livelihoods.

The same report said that the number of establishments and workers had already fallen substantially, although some businesses continued operating at the time.

By July 2026, Paju had accelerated its efforts further. Seoul Economic Daily reported that the city was purchasing key buildings, pursuing administrative enforcement and conducting nighttime anti-prostitution patrols as part of a strategy aimed at completely closing the district.

A new focus on livelihood transition

The September declaration places an important emphasis on what happens after prostitution ends.

According to ChosunBiz, owners and workers had previously submitted a coexistence plan to Paju City. The proposal included a permanent halt to prostitution, transition toward legal livelihoods and measures intended to revive the local commercial district.

The participants are asking the city to recognize their voluntary declaration as part of the dismantling process and to enter direct discussions about how the neighborhood and affected people can move forward.

This is significant because closing a red-light district involves more than removing businesses from a particular location. Questions surrounding employment, housing, property ownership and the future of the neighborhood can remain after the businesses disappear.

The declaration does not represent everyone

One important qualification reported by SBS and ChosunBiz is that the group making the declaration did not claim to represent every owner, worker or resident associated with Daechubeol.

The participants noted that some owners were separately involved in preparations for a public forum and said those individuals' positions should be respected. They cautioned against treating the September 3 declaration as the unanimous position of everyone connected with the district.

This distinction matters when interpreting headlines describing the entire district as having agreed to closure.

Why the story is attracting attention

The Paju development is part of a broader South Korean debate about what should happen to traditional red-light districts.

Supporters of closure generally frame the policy around public safety, women's rights, urban regeneration and eliminating prostitution from particular neighborhoods. At the same time, sex-worker advocates and researchers have raised questions about displacement, livelihood security and whether simply demolishing a district addresses the underlying economic and social conditions affecting people who work there.

Academic research published by Oxford Academic has documented these tensions around the demolition of Yongjugol, including criticism from sex-worker advocacy groups that closure policies can displace workers rather than resolve their economic insecurity.

The issue has also been explored through the 2026 documentary Yongjugol, which examines the people affected by the closure debate and questions how policies framed around women's rights can affect the lives of sex workers and other marginalized residents. The Seoul International Women's Film Festival describes the film as an examination of the competing perspectives surrounding the district's closure.

What happens next?

For Paju, the September 3 announcement could provide momentum for the final stage of dismantling the Daechubeol district. But the declaration is only one part of a much larger process.

The city still faces questions concerning redevelopment, property rights, livelihood assistance and the future use of the neighborhood.

For the workers and business owners who made the declaration, the immediate priority appears to be negotiating a transition toward legal livelihoods while ensuring that the area's eventual redevelopment also benefits existing residents.

The broader significance of the Paju case may therefore extend beyond the closure of one red-light district. It offers a closely watched example of how authorities, residents, property owners, sex workers and advocacy groups negotiate the difficult transition from a long-established illicit economy toward a different model of community life.

Article Sources and Further Reading

• SBS News: See report on the September 3 declaration by Paju's Daechubeol district owners and workers.
• Kyunghyang Shinmun: See report on the Yongjugol/Daechubeol declaration and its historical background.
• ChosunBiz: Coverage of the closure pledge, livelihood transition and property-rights issues.
• The Korea Times: Background on Paju's closure strategy and support programs.
• Seoul Economic Daily: July 2026 update on Paju's accelerated closure measures.
• Oxford Academic: Academic analysis of the Yongjugol closure debate and sex-worker perspectives.
• Seoul International Women's Film Festival: Information on the 2026 documentary Yongjugol.

Editorial note: This article is an independently written research summary based on publicly available reporting and academic material. Statements attributed to news organizations reflect their reporting; this article does not claim to have independently witnessed the events described.