Adultery site unwelcome here

By Jason Lim

Recently, the Korean Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) blocked the Korean version of the Canada-based Ashley Madison Internet site in ``light of the legal spirit of relevant laws aimed to protect healthy sexual morals, marriage bonds and family life.”

Admittedly, Ashley Madison has positioned itself as the foremost hookup site for married people, with a slogan that unabashedly states, "Life is short. Have an affair.” Since starting in Canada 11 years ago, it now claims over 20 million members worldwide.

It has recently turned its eyes to Asia, landing in Japan and Hong Kong recently. It set records in Japan by reaching 1 million members in a little over eight months, and the 80,000 members who signed up in the first month late last year made Hong Kong the most successful launch rate per capita. It seemed on the verge of replicating that success in Korea, with the more than 50,000 members who signed up since its launch last month.

That was until KCSC came down with both feet to protect healthy sexual morals in South Korea, a country that has a culture of prostitution so entrenched that it and related businesses (prostitution also channels significant economic activities to motels, beauty parlors, public baths and bars) are estimated to employ up to 1 million people, about 4 percent of the economically active population in Korea. The sex trade is estimated to have an annual economic output up to $24 billion dollars.

Other, more recent figures are even more alarming. According to the Korean Feminist Association, the actual number of women in the sex industry may exceed 1 million, which would mean that 1 in every 25 women in South Korea is selling her body for sex. Even if that seems too high, South Korea’s Ministry for Gender Equality estimates that about 500,000 women work in the national sex industry.

Supply is driven by demand, and there is enough of that. According to the government-run Korean Institute of Criminology, 20 percent of men in their twenties buy sex at least four times a month. There are high-profile busts of corporate prostitution of such massive scale that multiple floors of high-end hotels were rented out for 100-plus girls generating more than $200,000 a day.

I mean, when I first landed in South Korea in the 1990’s, the first thing that a fellow English teacher told me was to never go into a barbershop since there is a good possibility that I would get much more than a haircut.

Oh, did I mention that infidelity is still illegal in Korea? So, in one of the world’s most thriving sex industries, and infidelity is illegal, shouldn’t half of the men in Korea be in jail right now? Unless you don’t think that prostitution counts as infidelity, but as a part of working and doing business in Korea with its rampant corporate culture in which second and third rounds after dinner are the norm.

Which brings me to my next question: Why is the Korean government really banning Ashley Madison?

If it’s really doing it in "light of the legal spirit of relevant laws aimed to protect healthy sexual morals, marriage bonds and family life,” then what about all those other local hook-up sites for "conditional meetings” ― a euphemism for sex for money ― that are randomly advertised in the comments section of popular news stories? Why not ban them too?

Also, why not outlaw local mountaineering clubs, which have been known to promote prostitution for their members? Also, the love motels that abound so much around Korea, why not deny them permits? They certainly don’t promote marriage bonds and family life. And kissing rooms, barbershops, coffee deliveries and literally hundreds of other forms of prostitution that exist in Korea?

On second thoughts, why not ban Facebook itself, since it probably has been used for hookups by consenting adults in Korea? In essence, Ashley Madison is just a social networking site like Facebook that has branded itself in a provocative way, but is run like any other dating site. Women join for free, but men have to pay to contact the women.

Perhaps this isn’t fair. It doesn’t take a genius to point out the hypocritical inconsistencies of the KCSC’s decision to ban Ashley Madison when you consider Korea’s sex trade culture as a whole. And I am not even saying that all public policies should be consistent across the board; KCSC is only a small part of the Korean government that has made this decision.

However, it’s worth pointing out that banning a social networking site, regardless of how it brands itself, does not “safeguard the public nature and fairness of broadcasting content, promote a sound Internet culture, and create a safe online environment,” the stated mission of the KCSC. It only infringes on the public’s right to engage in a manner that they choose. And taking freedom to choose away from consenting adults for what they want to do in private ― and will do so with or without Ashley Madison ― is not good public policy.

Jason Lim is a Washington, D.C.-based expert on innovation, leadership and organizational culture. He has been writing for The Korea Times since 2006. He can be reached at jasonlim@msn.com, facebook.com/jasonlimkoreatimes and @jasonlim2012.