What's a Korean Boy to Do?

What’s happening in Busan these days? Lots of things I suppose, some interesting and some not. The streets and clubs have been and will be filled with American sailors. The aircraft carrier, USS Ronald Reagan is in town and with it, 5,000 sailors. It’s a great Friday night to avoid all the local foreigner bars. Somehow, US servicemen are given all of the information to find all the regular foreigner watering holes like, Starface, U2, Ol’55 etc. They come in droves and with them, testosterone fueled, drunken behavior. I’ll always remember last summer walking in U2 in Haeundae and seeing at least 100 G.I.s. They were all massive, drunk and some were even punching each other in the face for a laugh. If you’re willing to punch your friend in the face for a laugh, imagine what could happen if you direct your anger towards a small English teacher minding his own business? I quickly did an about face and left. I’m actually thankful that our gig at Ol’55 tomorrow night was cancelled!

This is also a very sad day for many Korean and foreign males residing here as well. The Korean government has decided to ban all foreign porn internet sites. What’s a boy to do? I suppose Korean netizens will have to leave their dark little rooms in their parents’ homes and attempt to find “real” girlfriends!

Here’s a story from today’s Korea Times:

Foreign Porn Sites Will Be Blocked
By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter

The government plans to block foreign pornographic Internet sites to protect teenagers from obscene video files.

The Ministry of Science and Technology called on the country's major fixed-line operators Friday to check the technical viability of the scheme.

``We are set to deny access to porn sites based overseas, with details being unveiled early next week,'' said Suh Byung-jo, director general at the ministry.

``We feel obliged to come up with measures to counter the recent woes caused by adult video clips available on the internet,'' said Suh, who chaired the meeting.

Suh's remarks came in the wake of a set of mishaps early this week involving major portal sites such as Yahoo Korea, Daum Communication and Naver.
On March 18, two porn videos were posted on
Daum, the second-largest portal site, also carried an audio-visual file of foreign fashion models exposing their breasts for approximately seven hours l Yahoo Korea, the nation's second-string Web portal. More than 20,000 users downloaded the files.

Unaware of this, Yahoo Korea left the clips on their site for roughly six hours and a number of minors are believed to have downloaded them. ast Tuesday.
Read More…

The ironic thing is, Korea’s sex industry is booming. Everywhere you go there are room salons, whisky bars, and nightclubs where young women will “comfort” businessmen; if the price is right! At times Korea can be a nation of denial and contradictions. Fashion models flashing boobies online is too risqué, but taking a woman half your age, (while your wife and kids are at home) to a love motel for an hour or two is perfectly acceptable by society!

Here’s an interesting insight into the seedy underbelly of Korean Business:
Sex, Booze and Business (Korean Style)