Everyone has heard the rumours around the sex industry in Korea, about the massage parlors and juicy bars, but no one I know has ever actually been to one, or at least wanted to admit it. As an insatiably curious person I was dying to know what exactly went on behind the barber pole.  I started asking around among both Koreans and foreigners and most of what I heard I already knew. Finally I heard of a friend of a friend who was an honest to goodness John. I tracked him down and he agreed to sit down for an interview on the subject.  MT (we’ll call him), a lanky, nonchalant guy wearing a white linen blazer and aviator sunglasses indoors, straight out of Miami Vice, stood to greet me when I arrived.

The One One Four: So, before we talk about the sex industry, what brought you to Korea?

MT: Well, it’s a somewhat different trajectory than the one a lot of Westerners living here follow.  I came over on a scholarship, thinking I would study Korean language and culture.  In the end, I basically ended up being an English teacher, but that’s a whole other sordid tale.

The One One Four: What was the first time like?

MT: I had a friend, who lived in the same apartment building as me.  He was trying to learn Korean and someone had told him that ‘An-ma’ meant massage.  There was a building in our neighborhood with a big sign that said “An-ma”.  He went there very innocently, just wanting a massage.  When they told him the price, he figured it had to me more than just a massage.  As soon as he told me about it, I knew I had to check it out.  I took the elevator to the fourth floor.  I didn’t know it at the time, but I had stumbled into one of the better an-mas I would ever visit.

The One One Four: What was that like?

MT: First you pay the madame, then a bodyguard-type guy takes you to a room about as nice as a moderately priced hotel home.  There’s a bed, armoire, TV and fridge.  But, the bathroom is larger than the bedroom.  In the bathroom there’s a new toothbrush with toothpaste on it waiting for you.  Eventually, the girl comes in.  She’s maybe 21, thin, attractive and wearing a little skirt and a bikini top and heels.  At this point you’re expected to keep your hands to yourself, unless you’re a regular and know the girl.  You can imagine the rest, I think.  After the act itself there’s a real massage.

The One One Four: How much did you pay?

MT: They are usually around w200,000

The One One Four:  Is that the average price? Are there less expensive places?

MT: If you see a barber pole and then another smaller barber pole in the stairwell, usually leading down to a basement, but sometimes to an upper floor, those are usually a massage with a “happy ending.”  Those are typically about w70,000 and often it’s an ajumma, not a young girl.  The girls in the an-mas are almost invariably young and attractive.

The One One Four: But, there are other kinds of places?

MT: Of course, there are red light districts in some cities as well.  It’s hit or miss whether or not they’ll see foreign clients.  I’ve found that speaking some Korean helps.  If you ask how much in Korean with a decent accent, you’re much more likely to be let in.  I’ve seen the coffee girls riding around on the scooters, but I don’t really know how they operate, so I can’t help you out there.

The One One Four: You’ve never done the coffee girl thing?

MT: No, I’m pretty much done with the whole scene, now. As far as I know, you order coffee and a girl comes to deliver it and it goes from there.

The One One Four:  You mean are done with seeing sex workers? Why is that?

MT: I have a girlfriend now, and I suppose I’ve done some growing up since that time.

The One One Four: Have you visited brothels in other countries?

MT: Yep, all over Asia, Thailand of course, Japan…

The One One Four: How does Korea compare?

MT: Its better organized and safer, for the ladies as well as the customers. Korea tends to not like foreigners in some places where its almost the opposite elsewhere. I think there is less quote-unquote forced prostitution in Korea although G.I’s tell me that near the bases there are a lot of Filipino girls who say they where brought over here to sing a band and then were made to work in the sex industry to work off their debt to the people who brought them over. I’m not going to say that doesn’t happen, but I get the sense that there’s not so much over here.

The One One Four: Does that bother you? The fact that some women are forced into the sex trade?

MT: Um, yeah it does, more now than it used to. But I don’t want to get into the ethics of it.

The One One Four: Fair enough.  What about the legality of it? You don’t worry about being caught?

MT: There is really a grey area in Korea. Its allowed to go on so long as its done in a way that’s approved of. Ive never heard of anyone getting arrested. I mean its right out in the open. There are red light districts that have been in the same place for years, decades probably.

The One One Four: In your opinion, what are the average Korean’s views like on the issue.

MT: I think they have a very good understanding of what it is and that its not something natural, something they can’t stop. As I said there its well organized and controlled and most of the power to control it comes from the government and organized crime.

The One One Four: Does organized crime run many of the brothels?

MT: That I don’t know but I would have to say that they protect them and that the brothels pay for that protection. I think most, if not all Koreans know that, which is why the women are usually pretty safe. I wouldn’t want to fuck around and get on the bad side of anyone in the brothels.

The One One Four: What are Juicy bars?

MT: Those are mainly for G.I’s. They are bars when you buy the ladies drinks and they sit with you. You usually strike a deal with the house and then you can go to a love motel with them. I’ve only heard about them, though, they are not my style. They usually employ foreign women from the Philippines of Russia, its a whole different scene, not a safe, not as organized.

The One One Four: You say safe, but I wonder about STD’s are they not a problem?

MT: Surprisingly, not nearly what it is in other countries. Korea tends to be pretty clean and these days the ladies all insist on condoms. I’ve heard that its different with Korean men, that they don’t like to wear condoms and that some ladies with do it without one, but that’s probably on the decline. No one wants to get sick.

The One One Four: You always use condoms?

MT: Oh yeah, always. All the places I’ve been to in Korea insist on it.

The One One Four: What about in other countries like Thailand.

MT: Thailand is Thailand dude, its the wild west out there. You can pretty much do anything for a price.  There isn’t that sense of respect you see here.

The One One Four: Sense of respect? Do you mean Korean’s respect sex workers?

MT: If the prostitutes are Korean, yes, in a way. As Koreans they are part of societal structure and have a place in it, even if that place is low. If you are not Korean its totally different. You don’t fit in the heirarchy and that’s almost worse. I’ve seen it in the way the ladies treat me and in the way Koreans in general treat me, you know? Versus Koreans.

The One One Four: So Korean sex workers treat you differently?

MT: I assume so, but I can’t really know for sure. Its more in the way they act. They don’t seem as, I don’t know, as jaded as the ladies in Thailand. They kind of expect more from you, expect you to behave. I guess it depends on the kind of places you go. The red light places or juicy bars might be different.

The One One Four: Have you been to “Hooker Hill” in Itaewon?

MT: Nope, that’s not my scene either but lots of my friends have. Some of them might talk to you if you want.

The One One Four: I might take you up on that. Thanks for your time.

MT: No problem.

If you know anyone involved in the sex industry against their will go to http://www.wm1366.or.kr/ or  http://www.humantrafficking.org/ and contact your local police or government agency and know that: ”The Republic of Korea Government was placed in Tier 1 in the 2007 U.S. Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Report for fully complying with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. There are no reports of government officials complicit in trafficking. ^{7″ -www.humantrafficking.org}

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