The state-funded Korea Consumer Agency announced the results of a survey on Friday which found that two-thirds of South Korean senior citizens are sexually active, and half of those pay for sex.
The Korea Times reported that the survey of 500 South Koreans over age 60 determined that 66.2 percent are having sex, and that 53 percent of that group — or 35 percent of the survey group overall — said they pay for sex. Paying prostitutes is illegal in South Korea.
An even larger group, 39.4 percent, argued that paying for sex is necessary because the elderly have no choice. That’s fewer than the 30.6 percent who said prostitution is unacceptable.
The Korea Herald reported on Sunday that more than half of the sexually active senior citizens said they buy anti-impotence pills, and 19.6 percent of them said they used sex toys.
The government-funded study also found that prostitution in South Korea is closely linked with sexually transmitted diseases. One out of every eight interviewed seniors suffered from gonorrhea.
“Sex education is necessary for the elderly,” Dr. Lee Seok-young of Ilsan Hospital told the Herald. “It is important to teach them safe sex rather than to show an attitude of indifference.”
Prof. Chae Kyu-man of Sungshin Women’s University told another newspaper that the government “should induce them into venting their sex drive legally and in a healthy manner.”
David Martosko is The Daily Caller’s executive editor. Follow him on Twitter.