Man gets 2 years in WA for human trafficking

A South Korean national has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for his role in a human-trafficking ring.

The ring forced some women into the sex trade to pay off their debts.

According to documents filed in U.S. District court, Junk Won Hwang helped smuggle as many as 20 people a month into the United States from Canada.

The documents say many of the 29-year-old Hwang's victims were women, who wound up in massage parlors and brothels.

He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport and smuggle illegal immigrants, and two counts of bringing an illegal immigrant into the U.S. for financial gain.

Court documents say Hwang had been charged in a 17-count indictment, but has been cooperating with authorities in major human-trafficking investigations involving the U.S., Korea and Canada.

He entered the U.S. illegally in the early 1990s and was deported in 1999.

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Information from: The Seattle Times, http://www.seattletimes.com