Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Real Reality]

Sex business lives on despite crackdown
Regardless of public indignation and police crackdowns, the sex business remains pervasive and ubiquitous in Korean society at various levels. Work in the sex industry here is varied. Ms. X, a woman who owns a bar on Itaewon's infamous "hooker hill," described sex work in Korea as being of two main types: one to do with "entertainment," with sex as an option for the girl to make extra money (most bars or hostess positions), or as a straight sex-for-money relationship such as is found in a typical red-light district.

Ms. X had worked the American-style "entertainment" end as a "juicy girl" in a bar during most of her 20s, earning money from customers by making 50 percent on every 20,000 won drink a male customer bought her. "Juicy" bars are generally only found in places such as Itaewon which cater mostly to foreigners. The Korean-style "entertainment" establishment that is not to Ms. X's liking involves drinking prodigious amounts of alcohol with male customers who tend to come in large groups.

In most room salons, "mi-in clubs," and business clubs, the women don't have a choice when it comes to taking customers, who, according to Ms. X, tend to be far more demanding and disrespectful of their hostesses. Also, Korean men tend to drink far more than Westerners when socializing, and they usually come in groups rather than singly or in pairs as is mostly the case with foreigners.

In the Korean-style case, drinking/hostess establishments give the workers a flat fee for a group of customers, usually in the range of 30,000 to 50,000 won. In places catering to foreigners, the money is a 50/50 split for every drink purchased, with no upper limit.

She said there so many women wanting to and looking for work in red-light districts now that there was no need for any ruthless recruiting.

She said her room and all the furniture in it was completely free and part of a package deal readily available in most red-light districts. A woman could walk in off the street, not pay a dime for a room, and start earning money for herself and the house virtually immediately.

Ms. Y laughed off the anti-sex-trade law as a show for the media and the public, after which it was back to business as usual.

Brief talks with a few other women confirmed the crackdown had scared a few girls away and briefly kept recruitment down, but it's apparent to any observer that major red-light districts around Seoul are generally operating as before.

Ms. Y explained that most working girls lived and worked in their rooms, with a day off once a week. They came into the trade for all kinds of reasons - from supporting family members back home, paying off personal debts, accumulating capital to start their own businesses, or just to make a lot more money than they could otherwise elsewhere.

The government's 2002 estimates say there are about 1 million women engaged in sex work at any one time, mind-boggling until one remembers it would take a high number to support an industry that comprised 4.4 percent of the GDP - more than forestry, fishing and agriculture combined (4.1 percent). The estimate was conservative since it dealt with semi-formal places of prostitution where numbers of workers and estimated income can be tracked. Considering that there are other forms of prostitution which are nearly impossible to track, it indicates between one-sixth to one-tenth of women in the country at some time have worked in some capacity or the other in the sex trade or on the periphery.
By Michael Hurt, The Korea Herald (May 27, 2005)
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2005/05/27/200505270013.asp

[Homer]

Nooo...really?

But crackdowns on the sex industry have worked so well in other countries...

[gaelforce]

I read this story in the print edition of this mornings paper.

And what, lo and behold, was being advertised on the adjacent page:
.... lots of expensive "sports massage" services. Hmmmm....irony centres overloading...must resist comment.

[itaewonguy]

gues finally the MAYOR or who ever got his kick backs too!
back to business as usual!

[Captain Corea]

one thing that has changed is...




The girls have gotten TALLER!!!

No seriously, the other day I was walking to Youngsan Space 9 and took the scenic route. All the girls had 12" platforms on or more. It was seriously strange looking. I felt like I was watching the dark Crystal or something.

I had seen the girls before. I've seen their outfits. But this was just odd.

[chronicpride]

[Captain Corea]

Actually Chronic, this was the image i had in mind


The girls stood about 7' tall in dem heals!