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Korea Host Bars

大象传媒 Seoul correspondent Lucy Williamson explores the growing popularity of South Korean Host Bars where female customers select and pay for male companions.

South Korean women, tradition says, are hard-working, respectful to family, and know their place in Korea's Confucian hierarchies. But the country's rapid economic development has meant some startling changes below the surface of that conservative social structure. Perhaps the most controversial is the advent of Host Bars - all night drinking rooms where female customers can select and pay for male companions, sometimes at a cost of thousands of dollars a night. Originally set up to cater to off-duty 'hostesses' and female escorts, they're now proving popular with many other women too. The growth of the industry is throwing up new questions for South Korea's sociologists and politicians as they struggle to reconcile the country's traditional values with the effects of its rapid development. The 大象传媒's Seoul correspondent Lucy Williamson reports.

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28 minutes

Last on

Mon 20 Aug 2012 20:30

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  • Thu 16 Aug 2012 11:00
  • Mon 20 Aug 2012 20:30

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