Korean student sells sex to pay rent
Four years ago, Suzie and her parents moved from South Korea to New Zealand.
But Suzie's father could not find work, and her mother's food business failed. So they decided to go back to Korea, and they wanted their daughter to join them.
But Suzie decided to stay in New Zealand because she enjoyed the freedom there.
'My parents said I had to support myself financially if I wanted to stay on,' she said.
But Suzie, who is pursuing a degree in business management, found it hard to get by.
After finishing high school, she worked at an Asian grocery shop with a salary of $180 per week. This was not enough to cover her $110 weekly rent and her living expenses, she said.
A friend then suggested that she work in the sex industry.
'I was looking at ways in which I could earn fast money. I looked at the classifieds, and there were a few advertisements for workers at massage parlours,' she said.
'But I knew if I worked for them, they'd take a commission. Since I know prostitution is legal in New Zealand, I thought I might as well do it myself and keep everything.'
She bought a pre-paid handphone and bought an ad in the classifieds under the 'adult entertainment' section. To her surprise, she received over 20 calls.
Her first customer was a Kiwi man in his mid-40s. 'He said he was lonely after his wife died, so I pitied him,' Susie said.
'He was quite a nice man. We talked first and we had sex only for a short while before he left.'
But Suzie said they did not use a condom as she thought he 'looked like a nice family man and not the kind that would visit prostitutes every night'.
She claims she is a good judge of character and 'can judge people by their voice'.
'If they sound nasty, I won't even give them my address or go to where they want me to go,' she said.
Parents Don't Know
Now, she works from a rented house she shares with two other Chinese student prostitutes, and earns about $2,000 per week.
'My parents have got no clue about what I am doing. They think I got lucky and have struck a deal with a modelling agency that pays me well,' she said.
'I used to have to watch every cent but now, not only am I able to spend freely. I also have money to send back to my parents for the Korean New Year.'
Though she knows about the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective, Suzie said she will not go to them for help for fear that she would be registered as a 'prostitute'.
'I do not want my friends to know, or my parents to ever find out that I am selling my body,' she said.
'I am happy doing what I do now, but I will stop when I find a good paying professional job one day.'