The Other Korea – Ulsan, South Korea

Perfect bodies – diamante-trimmed thongs – contortionist-like moves. This was the initial visual picture that my mind generated when I heard about the 7 Club in Korea – a Russian strip club. Strip clubs are very popular all over Korea due to the closeness of South Korea to other countries and the dream for Russian girls to make a year’s salary in a week! The image may have been compounded by the fact that any time I asked a guy about it, I would hear vague descriptions and a lot of “well, eh, you know.” replies.

Maybe it’s the culture of arranged marriages (albeit, severely diminishing), the societal taboo of sex before marriage, or merely a rebellious, hedonistic view to society, but the prevalence of a legitimate sex industry here is one that surely must make Buddha blush! The room salons (where men can go to drink soju, sing and have sex), the Russian bars, love motels, barber shops offering more than a shave, coffee girls (who have the reputation for delivering more than just coffee)- is an industry that, unlike Amsterdam, tries to hide itself.

So, while having a regular Thursday night dinner, my friend and I decided that we had too many questions about the other side of Korea, and that we’d only be satisfied if we had some experience of exactly what these girls felt. I’m not going to say that I swapped jobs with a room salon employee (I’m sure it would have been an intriguing experience). Instead, we did what we could without removing any articles of clothing. We paid a visit to the renowned Russian 7 Club.

On entering, we immediately felt welcome and sat at the bar. What we witnessed was not an exotic, naked strip-show, but something much tamer. The girls were wearing a lot more than what my friends and I used to wear to regular clubs in Ireland. They were merely sitting, chatting with guys and drinking those drinks which cost, when bought by these men, almost triple the price of a regular one.

Next came the “strip-show.” At the start, there were a few girls taking turns dancing around the steel, silver pole. It wasn’t what I would call sensual, sexy or exotic. I felt that I could do better myself especially during that period when my friends and I drank copious amounts of tequila and sambucca. Then came the “jewel” of the bar – a very slender, curvy blonde wearing a pink thong bikini. That was the extent of the entertainment. We sat and chatted with the girls during an obviously slow night.

Anna had just come from Seoul and had been in Korea for over a year. She left Russia because there wasn’t a glimmer of opportunity for her. She came to Korea to make some money so that she could go back to Russia and have somewhat of a “normal” quality of life. She informed me that for about one thousand per month, her job consisted of being in the club every night, dancing, talking and being polite to men. If she did want to go further with any of the clientele, she would have been able to buy a new pair of knee-high boots.

It was both an educational and a liberating night. Perhaps it was because of the strong liquor, the atmosphere or maybe a need for self-expression, but I developed a strong attraction to the pole. I asked the lady behind the bar to play En Vogue’s “Free your Mind” and took to the stage. I may have been wearing too many clothes to truly feel what those girls felt, but I have to say that it was a little difficult to leave. I felt sexy, fun, free, feminine and in control.

Since I came to Ulsan, Korea to teach six months ago, my beliefs in independence and equality have strengthened. These are not shared by the majority in South Korea. This is a society more concerned with surface image. Some marriages are business partnerships – the women in charge of the household department, men in charge of generating the finance. Wives look after home expenses and the children (the employees of the business). The mission statement for some seems to be to create a life with as many status symbols as possible and to produce successful products (children) to compound their own financial wealth and societal eminence.

South Korea is sometimes compared to the West in the 60s. I’m not so sure. South Koreans accept but don’t follow Americanisation. For reasons such as a huge economic growth within a very short period of time (the last thirty years) and a culture steeped in tradition, this is the way they are. For me, it adds greatly to a diverse travel experience!