I preface this that this is based on my experiences with dating and befriending many KMP girls from both coasts. I do not claim this to be everyone's story, but the stories tend to be very similar.
Korea is a very materialistic country. Money is power. Money is everything. Check out the most popular Korean dramas that grip the entire nation to the TV set... The most common plot is a rich guy falling in love with a poor girl.
Unfortunately, not everyone is so rich in Korea. For whatever reason. When you have a relatively pretty girl who desperately wants money, the first stop is the room salon.
A room salon is where Korean men go to drink, sing, and dance with Korean girls. There are different classes of room salons. The Top 10% are the room salons with supermodel/actress caliber girls. They are located in a district called Kangnam in Seoul which is one of the richest areas. You, or your company, will pay in the thousands just to drink with these girls. These girls are not available for sex.
But after that, the quality of the girls go down, and the availability for sex goes up. In the next class of room salons, maybe half of the girls are willing to go for 2-cha (second round) which means having sex. In the next class, maybe 75%. In the next class, more like 100%.
These girls make probably $5000 - $15000 in US dollars. Maybe more, if they can somehow become a mistress to a rich man. In fact, these room salon girls purposely target married men as it's easier to handle them, and one does not always have to be together with them as they have wives to tend to.
The girls who work in the top classes of room salons... They make enough money, many without even having to have sex with customers. But the ones in the middle and lower classes... Well, it gets tough having to drink everyday, and getting groped by drunk customers.
So now a path diverges at this point... But this divergance is recurring. Since they are going to have sex anyway, why not just work at a brothel or outcall outfit? So that's what they do. Some are run by Korean gangsters. Some are run by madams. Either way, it's easier just to fuck a Korean guy and send him on his way than having to kill their kidneys and laugh for every person that walks in. They make $10,000 to $15,000 a month easy. But they hear rumblings that in America, they can make even more money doing this kind of sex work....
Or the other option is, they see an advertisement about room salons in America. Almost 0% of room salons in America operate with the system of 2-cha. No sex involved. And they still make on average $10,000 a month. So they go to America... Maybe it's by jumping the border, though that is less prevalent these days as visas are easier to obtain, not to mention Koreans are no longer required to have a visa for a three month stay.
Once they make it to America... Many of these room salon girls are able to hook one main sugardaddy. Someone who will pay their rent and also give them a couple thousand or three thousand in allowance. Again, these guys are usually married men. And of course, nothing is free... That means love, or fake love, and sex.
So this is how they live. Some are able to find a single guy and get married. These are the ones who are "lucky" in my opinion.
The rest... They hop from room salon to room salon across the country... Maybe they just stay home and let their sugardaddy take care of them...
But before they know it, they're getting old. And they're just not making enough money to support their future once their looks fade. Some are smart. They start their own business. A bar? A room salon? Something.
The others... Not so smart. And they begin to worry. They remember their 2-cha days... Or they know someone who regularly did 2-cha back in Korea. And they have friends who have hopped into the KMP side of things. They are making $20,000 to $40,000 a month.
Their youth is running out... And if they already did 2-cha before back in Korea, it's easy to make the transition. If they never did... Well they already pretty much gave sex for money to their sugardaddies... And the money is a huge difference... So after much thought....
They switch over to the KMP side.
And at this point, they may make more money, but the price is their pride.
Many will claim that they will only work for one year, save up, and start a business. But how often does that story hold true? I can count on one hand the number of girls that were able to successfully work and save their money, buying an expensive apartment back in Korea and so on. However, once they've achieved their goal, such as buying a home or apartment in Korea where that is all you need to live well... They keep working, because now they have become addicted to the money.
The more commonplace event though is once the girls have a lot of money, they spend a lot of money. And the girls just keep getting older.
They spend it on plastic surgery. When they worked at room salons, sometimes they went to host bars where good looking Korean guys would reverse roles and do the girls' bidding. This was for fun. But now they are old and outright selling their bodies.... These girls become lonely... And some get addicted to host bars. Some become sugarmoms. Some get addicted to drugs. Some get addicted to gambling.
After working to 40, most girls look in their bank account and find they have nothing.
What happens after that... Well, I don't know. I have no first hand experience, but my educated guess is some work as licensed massage therapists giving handjobs. Others probably go out to more rural areas where guys are happy to get laid by 40 year olds and 50 year olds. Others probably start their own business, but I don't see that holding true in the future as more and more KMP girls are maintaining their own businesses while they work.
Just my 2 cents.