‘I begged him for my life. I cried begging him to open the door’

When she arrived in Australia from South Korea, Karen knew two English words: “Hi” and “hello”.

She was handed a piece of paper she could give to customers of the Australian brothels she was assigned to work in.

It said: “Hi … I do everything” and listed a range of sexual services Karen would provide.

Karen was recruited by a human trafficking syndicate led by a woman police would later describe as a ruthless organised crime boss. Her name is Mae Ja Kim, but she went by “Mimi”.

The syndicate recruited Karen in South Korea, promising her generous pay and conditions if she moved to Australia to be a sex worker, and they paid for Karen’s airfare and Australian visa.

Crime boss Mae Ja Kim.

Arriving in Melbourne sometime prior to 2014 (Karen has requested the period she worked for the Kim syndicate to not be disclosed to preserve her anonymity and protect her from reprisal), her debt ballooned to include accommodation, hair extensions requested by the brothel owner and payments to a corrupt education provider to make it appear she was meeting the requirements of her Australian visa.

Karen’s passport was held by a syndicate member and she was told it would be returned upon repayment of her debt.

Without knowing it, Karen had entered into a debt bondage arrangement outlawed under Australia’s human trafficking legislation. “I would put on makeup and start at 8am and work until 1am,” she recalls. One shift lasted 25 hours. She was permitted a day off when she had her period. She worked three months straight with no days off.

Karen told her story to Trafficked, an investigative journalism project involving The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, 60 Minutes, Stan and the Korea Centre for Investigative Journalism. Her experience is also documented in a South Korean government report, obtained by Trafficked.

Karen describes terrifying encounters with customers, especially those on drugs. “They would do different horrible things to me with sex toys. It was a really hard time.”

“I am making an effort to forget about it all. But I can’t forget. Because I am the victim.”

Karen, who was trafficked for sex by a gang of organised criminals

On her second day of work, she “experienced something like a scene from movies”.

She had been directed to a customer’s home, but when she entered she realised he was extremely drunk. She tried to flee, racing down a flight of stairs only to find a deadlocked door.

“Suddenly, the customer followed me from upstairs. It was so scary. The front door didn’t open, so I begged him for my life. I cried begging him to open the door.”

Detective Inspector James Cheshire from the Australian Federal Police. Credit: Simon Schluter

Karen didn’t know it but the Australian Federal Police were secretly monitoring key members of the syndicate, tapping the phone of Mae Ja Kim. The AFP probe was led by Superintendent Danielle Woodward and Inspector James Cheshire, and sparked by years of intelligence pointing to a human trafficking ring operating out of brothels licensed by the Victorian government. Woodward still burns with anger when recounting what she uncovered, as does Cheshire.

“When you speak to the individuals being trafficked, the distress they’re in, the lack of control, the lack of knowledge, and just the exploitation that goes on in the sex industry, it’s pretty horrific,” he said.

Cheshire says the AFP uncovered evidence suggesting dozens of women from South Korea had been imported to Australia over many years. While its operating hub was Melbourne, the syndicate had plans to expand up the east coast.

Cheshire and Woodward’s work led to Mae Ja Kim’s jailing for a minimum of two-and-a-half years in 2015 in connection to dealing with the proceeds of crime.

“They would do different horrible things to me with sex toys. It was a really hard time.”

Karen on her experiences with customers

The investigation also led to several of Kim’s accomplices being jailed and authorities in Queensland shutting down a syndicate brothel. It is one of the most successful counter-trafficking investigations in AFP history. And yet the pair couldn’t pursue trafficking offences, which carry higher jail terms, because of the difficulty meeting the evidentiary threshold required by the legislation. Many victims of the Kim syndicate were also too scared to go through the court process.

The difficulty faced by authorities in investigating and prosecuting modern slavery offences is why the head of AFP’s human trafficking division, Superintendent Jayne Crossling, is calling for “improvements” to the law.

Karen’s Australian nightmare ended after she met with Woodward and Cheshire’s team of investigators, who referred her to the Red Cross. She returned to Korea but still lives with the trauma of her time in Australia. “I am making an effort to forget about it all,” she says.

“But I can’t forget. Because I am the victim.”

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