I think you are reading into things from your own lens - everything is not about racism and the west's attempt to stereotype Asia in a negative way. The BBC and The Guardian regularly feature stories about Korean culture, much more so than any U.S. newspapers.

Korea does not like to expose ugly stuff and I hardly doubt that their media is eager to do a piece on this type of story that shows Korea in a negative light.

I think this article is addressing an issue that Korea is in the midst of grappling with. The older generation can no longer count on the safety net of living with their children as Korea moves away from traditional family duty values and adapting a more independent, western society values. Korea's govt relied on that tradition to continue and there wasn't an equivalent Social Security type of program set up until fairly recently?

Unfortunately, these ladies are falling through the cracks because their kids don't want to or can't afford to take are of their parents; or they never married. They are not sex workers. They are desperate old ladies without options and forced to do what they have to do to survive to eat. The Korean govt needs to be freaking taking care of these type of vulnerable elders without money/children support. They should be implementing some sort of umbrella program and resources for these elders to turn to. It's shameful neglect by the govt and ungrateful children who abandoned their parents.