The Seoul High Court ruled Tuesday that bar owners should pay taxes on the income they earned from arranging sex-for-money activities between female employees and male customers; a ruling that effectively allows authorities to collect taxes from illicit sex businesses.

The appellate court sentenced a bar owner surnamed Jeon to four years in prison for selling alcohol and letting female workers have sexual relations with customers in return for money.

Jeon was also ordered to pay a criminal fine of 14 billion won ($13 million) for evading taxes worth 13.6 billion won. Its verdict said that taxes should be levied on Jeon’s payment to his female workers as a “bonus” or financial incentive for engaging in sex-for-money activities.

Jeon has been in a court trial for running the illicit sex business in Samseong-dong, southern Seoul, from August 2010 to December 2012.

About 150 men visited the bar renovated for running the sex business a day on the average, according to investigators.

In an earlier ruling, a Seoul district lower court sentenced Jeon to a three-year prison term with a fine of 14 billion won.

Meanwhile, more and more entertainment bars are reportedly hiring foreign waitresses in an attempt to cut down the cost of running a sex trafficking business.

Statistics show that there are about 400 bars nationwide, employing approximately 1,500 female foreign workers. This accounts for almost one-third of the entire number of female workers on the E-6 visa, which is issued to artists, musicians, dancers, singers, performers, actors/actresses and models.

Further, an increasing number of foreign women who come here to marry Korean men are running away from home and engaging in prostitution to earn “easy money,” creating a daunting task for the immigration authorities.

Some migrant wives reportedly decide not to live with their Korean husbands and their families, due to financial hardship. They then try to stand on their own feet by getting a low-paying job at restaurants or other workplaces.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)