Thai woman sexually harassed by Korean taxi driver

A taxi driver in Gwangju has been charged with sexual offense against a Thai passenger, a local media outlet reported Tuesday.

According to JTBC, the taxi driver drove the Thai passenger to a remote place and pressured her into having sex.

When the passenger got into the taxi last Monday, the driver scanned her body and drove the taxi away from the requested destination. The woman told JTBC that he asked her for sex offering 70,000 won ($63).

“Because my Korean isn’t good enough, I could only tell him repeatedly to just go to my destination,” she said. Until she was finally dropped off at the destination, the driver kept asking her for sex despite her repeated refusal.

The woman moved to South Korea after getting married to a Thailand-based Korean businessman in November. 

Her family said she had already faced similar mistreatment several times in Korea.

“(Some Korean people) assume Thai people come to Korea just to get money, and that they can get them to do anything if they give them money.”

Last month, three female students from Thailand were sexually assaulted while working as interns on a farm.

Sex crimes targeting foreign women have emerged as a serious problem in Korea. However, there is a lack of official statistics available for policymakers, who have yet to come up with any meaningful measures against such crimes.

By Kim Min-joo / Intern reporter (mjk625@heraldcorp.com)