By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
Afreeca.com, an online broadcasting Web site, is being used as a venue for teenagers to "show flesh" for pocket money and is being patronized by those wanting to look up schoolgirls' skirts.
The site, famous for broadcasting sports or online games as well as satire "without limits," has recently come under fire for the considerable number of female "broadcaster jockeys"' (BJ) suggestive poses or comments aimed at receiving "star balloons," a cash rewarding system.
Users can buy a "balloon" for 100 won per pop and post it for a BJs' good performance. The balloons are intended to support the BJs, but these days are considered as money leading the presenters to go "wild" performing sexy and revealing dances.
On Sunday afternoon hundreds of Internet users gathered on a channel of a young female BJ on the Web site. She was wearing a T-shirt showing off her abs and was dancing to the latest pop song.
Whenever she received a balloon, she called out the senders' IDs to thank them and gyrated a bit harder. Fans were chatting live with her and shared ideas about her dancing, face and physical shape.
On another channel, a BJ was wearing a short sleeve shirt with a plunging neckline.
Whenever she moved, her cleavage was shown from a different angle. Another was wearing a short skirt, with the camera angle focusing on the hem of the skirt. The number of such channels is small compared to the tens of thousands of spaces allocated for sports or debating purposes.
However, many of these young and sexy BJs are ranked high on the user list, reflecting their growing popularity.
Dong-A Ilbo daily reported about 40 percent of those exhibiting on the site were teens. The paper quoted a 17-year-old high schooler who had managed to "rake in 1 million won during vacation."
The management set out to defend their star balloon system of cash back or gift vouchers.
"We have established a 24-hour-monitoring system for racy or violent scenes. If caught, they are suspended from operation," the management of Afreeca was quoted as saying to the newspaper.