(537) Jongno 3-ga

By Andrei Lankov

It is a late Seoul night sometime in the 1960s, and we can see a group of drunk men in their 30s ― perhaps, they are co-workers, but they might be army buddies or other acquaintances.

After a lot of soju has been drunk, and the government's supposed political stupidity has been discussed at length, somebody was almost certain to say: ``Well, and now ― let's go to ``Jong-sam" for girls!" In a minute, the men are up and gone.

The ``Jong-sam" is a short form of ``Jongno sam ga" (or ``Jongno 3-ga" as it is spelled on many English maps). Nearly all our readers know the area.

Nowadays this district in Seoul downtown, next to Pagoda (Tapgol) Park, is known for its movie theaters, but 50 years ago it was synonymous with prostitution and vice. This was a large red-light district, located at the very heart of the Korean capital.

Prostitution in the 1960s was, strictly speaking, illegal ― but who cared? When in 1948 the parliament of the newly established ROK outlawed prostitution it was not very likely that this ban was taken at face value even by the legislators themselves.

This measure was adopted under the pressure of powerful Christian groups, and also on assumption that no truly ``modern" and ``civilized" state would tolerate the ``vice." However, prostitution was an entrenched institution, and Korean males hardly wanted to change their habits.

The Korean War made this change of habits even less likely. Countless thousands of women lost any means of existence. The contemporary press and later-era novels often loved to tell stories about desperate college students and middle class housewives who were pushed into prostitution by the collapse of their families.

Such things happened, no doubt, but most prostitutes were uneducated girls from poor farming villages who had no other way to make money once they had left their homes.

Frequenting prostitutes was seen as a natural pastime of every male ― at least, unmarried ones. It seems that many Koreans now in their 50s and 60s were once introduced to sex in ``Jong-sam."

It was seen as only natural to learn about sex in such a way, since in most cases their girlfriends would not allow them anything ``improper" until they were formally married. The sexual revolution only arrived in Korea in the 1980s.

In postwar Korea, the red-light districts were often located at the same places where the officially licensed prostitutes of the colonial era had plied their trade. This helped to save on advertisements: the lusty and drunk males of the 1950s rushed to the same districts they (or their elder brothers) once frequented in the 1930s. Many areas of prostitution were located in the vicinity of railway stations and bus terminals.

However, the area of Jongno 3-ga was different: it had no established tradition of prostitution going back to the colonial era, and it was far from the major centers of intercity transportation.

It flourished around major movie theaters, which still dominate the area now, and numerous eateries. The transportation was convenient as well: customers usually came by tram, since the city's most important line ran alongside Jongno street.

The early 1960s was a ``golden age" for the prostitution quarters of ``Jong-sam," the strip, 1 km long and some 100 meters wide, was almost completely taken over by prostitutes. Estimates varied, but it seems that between 1,000 and 1,500 women were waiting for the customers there every night.

Their service was cheap: a short sexual encounter would cost 300 won, while an entire night would cost 800 won with prices going down in bad weather when rain or cold drove many customers away.

In those days, a cup of coffee would cost 30-35 won, hence the price was quite affordable for less than successful males. Indeed, ``Jong-sam" was not an area of high-level prostitution for the privileged. Rather the customers were vendors, petty clerks, soldiers and, of course, college students.

Girls also made relatively good money, with 30,000 won a month seen as a normal income for a ``Jong-sam girl" in the mid-1960s. Not a fortune, perhaps, but still roughly three times the level the average countryside girl would make in a normal factory job. And such a factory job was not too easy to find until the mid-1960s.

However, the first fruits of the economic growth and changes in the public mores were gradually undermining the Jongno 3-ga sex industry. By the late 1960s country girls had the choice of normal employment, and sexual mores began to change. The decline in the business was obvious by the late 1960s.

The ``Jong-sam" came to an abrupt end in 1968, due to the efforts of Kim Hyon-ok, arguably the most charismatic mayor in Seoul's long history. He wanted to re-develop the area, and ``sin town" would have no place in the heart of the clean and sophisticated Seoul he dreamt of creating. Hence, the brothels had to be driven away.

The essence of Kim's strategy put the emphasis not on the prostitutes but on their customers. After due warnings were made, the police and city officials began to harass the men coming to the area, demanding they produce their IDs, writing down their details and then making their names public. The result was a speedy collapse.

Kim planned a long harassment campaign, but it took a couple of weeks: the assault began in late September 1968 and by mid-October ``Jong-sam" ceased to exist.

It was Kim's style: he was not known as Kim the Bulldozer for nothing! And I will tell many more stories about this remarkable man.

Professor Andrei Lankov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and now teaches at Kookmin University in Seoul. He can be reached at anlankov@yahoo.com