About four out of 10 teenage girls who have run away from home have at some point provided sexual services mainly for money, a survey showed Tuesday.

According to the written survey of 92 runaway teen girls in Daejeon conducted from July-August by Yook Hye-ryon, a professor at Chungnam National University, 38 percent of the surveyed answered that they have engaged in prostitution.


Asked what age when they became involved in solicitation, 48.6 percent of the polled answered "between 14-16," the survey said.

When asked who had brokered the sexual services, 31.4 percent of the respondents said an older or younger acquaintance, another 31 percent said their friends, and 17.1 percent said themselves.

Money was the biggest reason for being involved in prostitution at 21.1 percent, followed by no place to sleep at 15.5 percent, hunger at 14.1 percent, and requests from friends or younger or older acquaintances, the poll said. (Yonhap)