Miari

Mia-ri is one of largest red-light districts in Seoul, South Korea. Located in the Wolgok-dong area at Gireum Station, it is also known as "Miari Texas" or "Texas Miari" after the American servicemen that helped popularise the area. The area is entered through a curtain at the entrance to an alleyway. Several other alleys come off this alley. Outside each of the buildings stands an "ajumma", who tries to entice clients to enter.
History.
Even though prostitution was made illegal in 1961, police action was generally limited to the suppression of human trafficking and underage prostitution. The police were often bribed by the brothels.
In January 2000, the district appointed a new police chief, Kim Kang Ja, who was Korea's first female police chief. Kang Ja claimed 80% of the area's 1,500 prostitutes were underage. She instigated many raids to try and eliminate underage prostitution. At least 40 of the estimated 260 brothels were closed, and underage prostitution virtually eliminated in Miari.
Kang Ja's crackdown precipitated a 50-day national anti-prostitution campaign and a change in the law. The law now allowed police to name people who used underage prostitutes, tripled jail sentences and fines for pimps and no longer treated underage prostitutes as criminals.
Following the 2004 anti-prostitution laws, which define prostitution as a form of human trafficking, further police actions occurred in Miari.