Discover even more concerning women-only host bars in Gangnam, Korea

South Korea's quick economic advancement has meant some stunning adjustments within its conventional social structure, including the increase of so-called host bars, where wealthy females pay the matching of hundreds of dollars for male company.

In the dark light of a below ground room, a dozen flawlessly groomed young guys kneel in rows, calling out their names.

Muscle, with shiny boy-band hairdos, they stuff side by side into the narrow space, awaiting us to make our option. Outside in the passage, more of their colleagues are getting here for another night at the workplace. It is 2am, and we are their first consumers.

Concealed below the sidewalks of Seoul's ritziest postal code, Gangnam, the men at Bar 123 belong to an expanding industry, which outgrew the long traditions of Japanese geisha as well as Korea's kisaeng homes but with one crucial difference - the clients below are all ladies.

Referred to as "host bars", these all-night drinking rooms offer women customers the chance to select as well as pay for male friends, often at a price of thousands of pounds an evening.

One of the women I meet at Bar 123 is Minkyoung, a waitressing supervisor for a five-star resort. She states she concerns host bars one or two times a month.

The appeal of host bars can be refined. Below, she states, she has more focus from her male companions, even more selection as well as, most importantly, even more control.

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" In regular bars the individuals who consume with me have just one objective - to have an one-night stand. However I don't want that, so that's why I come below, I wish to enjoy," she claims.

Hosts are worked with by bars similar to this one to supply companionship as well as enjoyment. Formally that implies pouring drinks for their customers, talking and dancing with them, as well as vocal singing karaoke.

Host bar in Seoul

Sex is not officially on offer in many host bars. That would certainly be unlawful however even Minkyoung appears pleased to flirt as well as touch with her host, and also the males below approximate that around half the consumers intend to pay for sex, either on or off the premises.

James has been functioning at Bar 123 for a number of years. In Korean culture, he states, there is a great deal of pride and also negotiating a price for sex is never done clearly. Instead, he tells me, it is all to the host's very own assessment.

" The individuals below are pros - we understand what we're doing," he claims.

" After talking to a lady for a hr we generally understand just how much cash she makes and what she provides for a living. We've already analysed her character as well as what she's ready to provide."

James and also various other hosts claim their customers include a few of South Korea's elite, and also that the money as well as advantages available boggle the mind. One client James satisfied, throughout his initial week in the task, asked him to authorize himself over to her for 2 years.

" She stated 'allow's make an agreement. I've obtained this paper as well as I've numbered it 1-5. Whatever you jot down alongside those numbers, I'll get you.'".

James states at the time he took it as a joke but considering that learnt the exact same lady spent ₤ 60,000 ($ 97,000) on one more host.

" If it happened now, I would certainly do it - I 'd be believing straight.".

Paradoxically possibly, host bars expanded out of one of Korea's most entrenched and, some claim, misogynist service traditions - the room salon. These are personal drinking rooms where groups of men pick, as well as are served by, appealing women hostesses.

It was the people hosting' demand to allow off steam after work, states professional host Kim Dong-hee, that developed the initial need for host bars, with all-male personnel.

" What these hostesses want is to [make us] do the very same thing they needed to perform in their own office. These girls are forced to do points they don't desire to do for cash.

" I believe a great deal of them are in pain, and a lot feel lonesome. Put simply, they want to buy our time and our bodies.".

People hosting still make up a large percent of the clients at host bars below, yet at Bar 123, for instance, as much as 40% of the clients on a given night are currently from other strolls of life.

The reasons for that growing charm are bound in South Korea's fast financial increase. Within 50 years, the nation shifted from post-war destruction to OECD member.

Yet, according to Jasper Kim, head of the Asia-Pacific Global Research Group in Seoul, something vital was shed along the road.

" I think that with all this rapid development comes rapid adjustment, as well as Koreans just don't recognize just how to deal with it. 판교룸싸롱 Increasingly, capitalism is overtaking standard social standards that you would anticipate a number of years back.".

Jasper Kim claims South Korea's notoriously long functioning hrs have left numerous Korean females really feeling lonesome, while the country's technological advance has left lots of people really feeling detached.

" The human element of Korean culture that existed previously simply does not exist today. Individuals are concentrated on technology, individuals are concentrated on their work, they aren't concentrated on human relations anymore.

" In several means, Korean society today kind of reminds me of 1960s culture in the United States, where it's on the verge of some sort of social revolution.".

The grandfather of Seoul's host bar scene, Kim Dong-hee, agrees that a lot of the females that come to host bars are not paying for sex however, for friendship, which is why he opened up a brand-new chain of freshly-marketed electrical outlets aimed at the mainstream market - called Red Model Bars.

Red Model Bar hosts.

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Hosts at Red Model Bars can not touch clients.

" Men intend to have visual satisfaction and wish to really feel things, they're responsive. Ladies like to chat and also to pay attention. And that's why I thought about opening a bar such as this - a kind of dialogue bar.".

Red Model Bars are various to typical host bars in one vital respect - there is a no-touching regulation. Hosts remain on one side of the table, consumers on the other, and no physical call is permitted, and certainly no sex.

Perhaps because of this there is an absence of furtiveness amongst individuals that function or drink right here - the lights are low, the style mainly dark red and the space is split into very discreet booths, but it is an open-plan space as well as hosts and also clients are split in each cubicle by a large table.

This new organization version depends completely on females paying the equivalent of hundreds or even countless bucks to talk with fine-looking young guys over a drink. Still, it appears to be working - 3 new branches are because of open this year.

Sitting at a table at one end of bench was among their regular clients, a flower shop called Kim Nayu. She tells me she comes here every day to meet her favourite host as well as review problems she is contending work.

The cost for this slice of male focus is $487-650 (₤ 300-400) a day.

" Talking to buddies would be cheaper" she confesses, "but they do not pay attention as much. They're busy, and quickly to speak regarding themselves. Right here, individuals will take note of me and they'll listen to me.".

" I invest a lot of money but it's worth it of what I obtain emotionally. People pay to head to see a psycho therapist or psychoanalyst, so it's comparable however much less difficult.".

Nayu's much-loved host Sung-il states it can be tough to keep his expert and also individual life separate.

" Honestly I would certainly be lying if I claim I haven't been attracted to take things better with some consumers, because we're human, we're males, however there are policies.".

Among his customers yapped to her spouse regarding him and when the 3 of them met, Sung-il as well as the spouse came to be close good friends.

" No one hides - the workers do not hide that they function right here, and consumers can be open also.".

This visibility is posing a brand-new kind of difficulty to South Korean culture, various from the occasionally sleazy abyss of conventional host bars as well as their hinterland of male hooking.

By supplying ladies a "respectable" method to challenge standard gender functions and also bend their economic power, these new bars ask concerns of Korean culture that are becoming tougher to disregard.

Hear the full report on BBC Radio 4's Crossing Continents. You can pay attention using the Radio 4 site or by means of the Crossing Continents podcast.

The appeal of host bars can be refined. Right here, she says, she has even more focus from her male friends, even more choice as well as, crucially, more control.

James has been functioning at Bar 123 for a couple of years. Rather, he informs me, it is all down to the host's own assessment.

As well as that's why I assumed of opening a bar like this - a kind of dialogue bar.".