<Anchor> The
U.S. State Department has released this year's Human Trafficking Report.
Korea, which had maintained the first level every year, was downgraded to the second level for the first time in 20 years.
North Korea was also ranked at the bottom this year.
This is Washington correspondent Nam Seung-mo.
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The US State Department's Trafficking in Persons report categorizes 188 countries into three categories based on anti-trafficking efforts.
Thirty countries, including the US, Germany, UK, and France, were rated as 1st, but Korea was omitted.
It is the first time in 20 years that it has maintained the 1st grade every year since 2002, and it has been downgraded to 2nd grade.
[Tony Blincoln/Secretary of State: 18 countries downgraded (in anti-trafficking).
This means that these countries have not made significant efforts to combat human trafficking or, worse yet, have supported some form of trafficking, either politically or at the government level.]
Level 2 meets all criteria for preventing trafficking in persons .
133 countries including Japan, Norway, Switzerland, and Italy are included in addition to Korea.
The report raised concerns about prostitution and forced labor in South Korea, particularly the victims of foreigners.
He pointed out that the number of prosecutions for related crimes decreased compared to the previous year, and foreign victims who were forced into prostitution were even deported.
North Korea was ranked the lowest for the 20th year in a row.
He wrote that 80,000 to 120,000 people are imprisoned in political prison camps, and an unpredictable number of people are imprisoned in labor camps, etc.
In addition, China and Russia, which are suspected of forced labor, were also classified at the bottom of the third level.
A South Korean government official said that the different legal systems and sentencing systems between South Korea and the United States also seem to have had some influence on the evaluation, and said that they would consult with the US side.