Anyone who lives in Busan more than a few months soon learns the variety and availability of prostitution is positively astounding. Within a square mile of my downtown apartment is a full-service barbershop, several kareoke-style singing rooms and old style coffee shops prostitutes can be easily summoned to, four full-service sports massage rooms, and a newer brand of affordable hardcore drinking rooms, where I’m told, drinks and handjobs can be had for less than $60.
There aren’t, however, many red-light districts because those were banned in 2004 as part of a supposed anti-prostitution campaign by the government. They sitll exist, albeit to a lesser extent. About two miles beyond the radius given above.
And what happens when you try to sweep prostitution out of the public eye in the country with the largest broadband network in the world? That’s right, it goes straight to the Internet, where now prostitution can be easily bought and sold by people of all ages, right in the comfort of your own living room.
The office cited data by the state-run Korea Internet Safety Commission showing it received reports that 11,724 Web sites and mobile phone content operators were arranging prostitution as of this past June, more than quadruple the 2,680 in 2005 (The commission didn’t provide figures for prior years).
A recent translation of an article by Korea Beat cites that according to police statistics, the tried-and-true forms of prostitution in Korea have also increased. And this informative Marmot’s Hole post from 2006 explores some of the many new forms prostitution in Korea is taking, specifically in and around Seoul. These will in time trickle down to Busan if they haven’t already, albeit, mainly in less expensive versions.
But the Internet is really where business is are really expanding. In August another foreigner-penned site in Korea called The Grand Narrative did a translation of an article titled: Three out of Every 10 Dating Sites are Being Used by Teenage Prostitutes to Find Clients.
Image Via The Grand Narrative
This topic was covered (at the time) brazenly by one of my favorite Korean film directors Kim Ki-duk in his 2004 film Samaria, also (strangely) known as Samaritan Girl, for which Kim won a directorial award at the Berlin Film Festival. In the film a high school student is pimped out over the Internet by her best friend, who keeps meticulous track of each client, eventually using the records to later track down the men after her prostitute friend has died.
Kim is generally hated by Koreans, who see many of his topics as embarrassments slapped on the silver screen and distributed to international markets. A good review of Samaria/Samaritan Girl can be found here.
Busan is generally more conservative old-fashioned, than Seoul. As I exit my apartment and move past the streams of uniformed students en route to one of the six major high schools in my vicinity, it’s hard to imagine them prostituting themsevles over the Internet. Often times, to see a Korean high school student (and even more so in Busan) is to see a child. A 12-year-old in the body of a 17-year-old.
But then, right on their path to school, are electric poles peppered with advertisements looking for “hostesses” to work in singing rooms, and parked cars, each with three or four business card-like advertisements for prostitutes. Sometimes I see kids flinging these at one another during the day.
Clearly as the country’s economy continues to expand, the government will have to address these issues. My guess is that on the whole, Koreans would rather the government erradicate rather than accentuate this.
10 responses so far ↓
1 Grimes // Nov 3, 2007 at 5:27 pm
I really don’t like his movies.
2 barchosis // Nov 3, 2007 at 5:29 pm
Interesting. I live just outside Busan and have been there several times. I agree with what you say about it being old fashioned. But you make it sound like prostitution in Busan is worse than other places. I get the sense its worst in the countryside, where it’s even less regulated.
Anyway, liked the piece.
3 Korea Beat // Nov 3, 2007 at 6:08 pm
I used to live right next to a middle school which was right in the middle of a residential area filled with very cheap one or two-room apartments, and when summer rolled around every parked car would get covered in ads for brothels. And every morning the kids would be blithely walking over them on the way to school, as if they weren’t even there.
4 James Turnbull // Nov 3, 2007 at 9:55 pm
Hi,
thanks very much for the link, but I didn’t do a “partial” translation on my blog! I spent over an hour on it at the time, and am pretty sure I translated all of it!
In the comments to that post “bulgasari” thanked me for the translation and said it inspired him to write his own article on the same subject here:
http://populargusts.blogspot.com/2006/10/dasepo-girls-and-conservative-korea.html
I’m glad I did, because it’s easily one of the most comprehensive and well-researched examinations of teenage prostitution in Korea and it’s portrayal in the media that I’ve ever seen, and easily puts my own effort to shame. If you’re interested in this topic, and if you’ve read this far you probably are, I highly recommend you check it out.
5 A.S. // Nov 3, 2007 at 10:54 pm
Ah, James you’re right. Sorry about that. I wasn’t trying to slight your considerable translation efforts. I’m going to change it in the text. Thanks for the correction.
6 James Turnbull // Nov 3, 2007 at 11:36 pm
No problem, and thanks again for the link. And thanks for another review of Samaritan Girl for me to read. If you haven’t read it already, I link to this review on my post if anyone’s interested:
http://koreanfilm.org/kfilm04.html#samaria
I liked how you described Kim ki-duk as “generally hated by Koreans, who see many of his topics as embarrassments slapped on the silver screen and distributed to international markets.” It makes me want to check out his work more!
7 A.S. // Nov 4, 2007 at 4:37 pm
Thanks for the comments James. Nothing against you, but I remember not liking this review when it came out. I think a lot of people don’t like Kim’s movies, but feel like they ought to, so the reviews end up sounding like: well, let’s wait and see if I can figure out what this guy is getting at, but in the meantime I don’t think I like it.
I think the point with Kim is to forget about figuring out what he is or isn’t saying. He throws a lot against the wall to see what sticks–and a lot of it doesn’t. What stuck with me in Samaria was that girls were prostituting their bodies over the internet. He was dead on with that and that’s I think that’s why it’s important to not disregard directors (or others) like him (as many Koreans wish to). Of course if you’re a film writer, it doesn’t leave you with much to say. When you’re reviewing something you’re put in the position of having to figure things out…because you’re the expert.
This doesn’t make him a better director than others…it means he’s experimental in his approach. Sometimes it flat out doesn’t work. I was disgusted by The Isle, as much as I liked the setting. Bad Guy was too cruel for my tastes.
My personal favorite is 3-Iron, or in Korean 빈집
8 James Turnbull // Nov 4, 2007 at 9:44 pm
I didn’t realise that he was the director of The Isle. I too was somewhat disgusted by it, and frankly could make no sense of it whatsover.
Having said that, given your recommendation I’ll definately see Samaria, and then 빈집. I’ve been trying to use DVDs for Korean study for quite a while, but honestly have yet to find a Korean movie I’d be happy to watch twice…something about Korean cinema and my tastes somehow just don’t quite mesh. But given my interest in the subject already, hopefully Samaria will be a good start.
9 A.S. // Nov 4, 2007 at 10:42 pm
You know, I felt the same way until I started watching Hong Sang Soo’s films. He’s probably my favorite Korean director and I started using those to study Korean. His style fits my tastes really well…so who knows, you may hate him, but his movies are real people, using real language to talk about real things. Perfect for studying. Here’s a link: http://imdb.com/name/nm0393254/
Kim Ki-duk’s movies are not good at all for studying Korean. 3-Iron has about two sentences of dialogue. The Bow has none.
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