What is your opinion on the bar girls and owners in Korea?

mike · #1 10-30-2005, 07:24 PM

I was reading through a couple of Yahoo groups today. There was a discussion related to the bar girls and prostitution in A-Town (outside the Kunsan Air Base gate). It was very interesting and thought I would post it here.

"On my days off....the mamas from A-town call me up and ask for me to escort them onto the base to play the slot machines at the Loring Club. In a 3 hour period they threw away $2000 in the slots. Folks these clubs down in atown are making a killing off us. With Juicy drinks going for $10 a pop..its know wonder their rich. Plus the cost of living in A-town is dirt cheap (you can get a house in atown for $150 a month). Today while i was hanging with the mamas...i asked about the $20-$50 juicy drinks...they told me not to
waste my money.

I asked about barfines...and they stated buy $50 juicy drink...and the girl can go home early...pay the girl $100 outside the club and no bed checks will be conducted on her. If the girl is found not in the house...she is fined $100 or more. The clubs pays a percentage to the promoter of the girls....and thats how these girls are paid. Most are paid by the promoter, at different times, not by the clubs. Plus the drink tickets you see...can be turned in for spending money...a small percent(around 20% of the jiucy drink) Now different clubs varies on how the girls get paid...but the morale of this post is...save your money....you want to hook up with these girls..get to know them first. Try taking them out to Kunsan (first you need to be a customer...and in order to do that you need to buy a drink), if you like them enough....buy enough drinks to take them out of the clubs...but beware...these girls have multiple boy friend's...so dont fall in love....you will only crash and burn at the end!!!!"

Now in addition to this, I read this article as well on South Korea's effort to end prostitution starting in 2007.

Quote:

TONGDUCHON, South Korea — Whether it's 30 degrees or 90 degrees
outside, the Philippine bar girls at the Bunny Club appear comfortable in their kimpy G-string bikinis, prancing around the bar, interacting with soldiers from nearby Camp Casey.

On a typical Friday night in Toka-ri, one of South Korea's more notorious red light districts, sex is bought and sold as freely as any other service available in this Asian capitalist economy.

But the nights of sin could be numbered. In a nationwide crackdown against prostitution and human trafficking, the South Korean government announced last week it will shut down all of the estimated 70 red-light districts in the country beginning in 2007.

Though illegal, prostitution in South Korea is widespread and rarely prosecuted. According to the Gender Equality Ministry, more than 330,000 women worked in some 80,000 sex-industry establishments in 2002, the last year figures were available.

All told, the ministry said, South Korea's sex industry — including legal entertainment associated with brothels — accounts for some $20 billion each year. Watchdogs and victims rights groups say the clientele is a mix of foreign residents, tourists, American servicemembers and South Korean businessmen, whose business culture has no qualms about providing clients and coworkers with "entertainment" as a normal operating expense.

A typical evening in Toka-ri with a group of soldiers starts at a row of nightclubs with names such as Platinum and Bounce, prominently displayed in neon along a strip beside a small stream near the back gate of Camp Hovey.

It's obvious who the main clients are in Toka-ri. Many of the clubs are decorated with symbols of the 2nd Infantry Division such as Indian heads, 2nd ID badges and unit coins. Less noticeable at first is the fact that the exteriors of the clubs in Toka-ri are quite a bit larger than their interiors.

According to the soldiers, this is because each club has a network of winding passageways and back rooms, guarded by doors displaying signs prohibiting entry to U.S. Forces Korea personnel. It is here, that the men go to pay for sex, away from the gaze of the ever-present military police and courtesy patrols.

Inside the first club, there are about two-dozen soldiers and 10 bargirls — Filipinas, Russians and Koreans dressed like pop divas. Jennifer Lopez and Brittany Spears would appear right at home.

A moment after entering, a hostess named Monica has wedged herself into a group of soldiers and is asking their names and whether they can buy her a drink.

She's offered a bottle of Budweiser, but it turns out she wants something else — a plastic cup of Coke that looks like it might be from a little girl's playhouse and costs $20.

Four beers later, the soldiers head for the Bunny Club, where they're introduced to May, another slender Filipina, who like her workmates, is wearing a bikini seemingly made of dental floss.

She sits in someone's lap and asks for a $20 drink while her friend gyrates on a small stage, decorated with half a Jeep sticking out of the wall. The dancer removes her top and threatens to take off her bikini bottom, to the applause of the soldiers at the bar.

"Buy me a drink, buy me a drink, buy me a drink, buy me a drink," says May.

"Later," she's told, while across the way, another bargirl is bouncing up and down in a soldier's lap.

He returns disappointed. He paid $60 with the expectation of sex, but came away with "nothing" after the courtesy patrol interrupted him.

The rules, according to the soldiers, are: if you buy a girl a drink, you can take her upstairs to kiss and touch; $60 buys oral sex; and $100 or more buys a trip to a back room for intercourse.

Do the soldiers think the South Korean government will succeed in closing down the red light districts?

"It will never happen," says one soldier. "Look how many barber poles there are in every neighborhood in South Korea," he says.

Two or more barber poles on the outside of a building is a sign that it's a brothel.

Our group decides to head back to Bounce. Along the way, the courtesy patrol stops them and decides the soldiers have had enough for the night, sending the group home.

The group has been ejected from Toka-ri, but the soldiers are whooping and laughing with relief that their first sergeant wasn't called to come get them. Fortunately, there is an alternative red-light district outside the front gate of Camp Casey, known simply as The Ville.

The soldiers wander through bar after bar, drinking and fraternizing with the bar staff. The whole thing starts over again.

I live as Osan Air Base and the "juicy scene" is very real in Songtan. Juices cost $10 and real drinks cost $20 for the bar girls. The average beer is $3-$4.

Here are some questions that I would be interested in opinions.

Does anyone feel bad for these girls?
If you sit in a restaurant or walk in Songtan between 1400 - 1700 (standard time off for the bar girls) you will see 100s of these girls (mostly from the PI here) shopping and socializing. I am assuming the GIs walking with them either paid their bar tab the night before or are on of the girls' many boyfriends (and has invested thousands). They are making a ton af money and send much of it back home.

Are the bar owners making a killing?
I notice that many of these bars go out of business, so not all are doing well. But at $10 a juice and $3-$5 a beer, many of these bars are milking the military here in Songtan.

Thoughts?

Mike

cellguy38019 · #2 10-30-2005, 08:24 PM

I just can't beleive any of you guys would actually pay that much for drinks for the girls nor pay any kind of barfines. Just causes me to wag my head. I left Korea (Osan) in 1987 and paid a whopping 20 bucks for an all-nighter. Short-time was 10-15 bucks. One night while drunk which was almost every night I got an all-nighter for 8 bucks, we all partied together, officers and enlisted, it just kills me thinking they've gone so high like that, please let it never touch the Philippines or Thailand with that disease.

Stick · #3 10-30-2005, 08:39 PM

Yeah its that bad Cellguy.

Well bad isn't the right word. Its that expensive. I wouldn't know about barfines since those are as the USFK policy dictates soliciting for prostitution. However yes the drinks are $10 a pop for the girls... doesn't matter what they drink sometimes "Juice" sometimes Whiskey and Coke or Rum and Coke... or even a shot of Tequila... a Beer for a customer is $3-4 Mixed drink is $5, and a shot of the "good Tequila... 1800 Anejo" is $10. So if a girl likes you, she'll get what you pay for... some appreciate the 1800 Anejo and they won't drink you dry. But if you are new, or rude... expect a Juice and watch it disappear. I know quite a few of them from a couple of different bars. I hang out there, I've even gotten to learn the schedule of nights off for some of them. Sometimes they like to go out and go bar hopping to other places to see how good or bad they have it at their home bar, other times dinner... mind you, they don't pay for a damn thing... I don't blame them for that. I've been able to talk to most of them and find out what they do get paid... its actually based on total "tickets" earned per month as to how big of a percentage they get to "keep" for every hundred tickets ($10/ticket) they keep 1% so at 200 tickets, they get 2%, etc... Is this fair? no.. is it right, no... is it going to change? No. Am I going to stop going there and talking with these girls... Yes, and I'll continue to be nice to them, because they are nice to me and don't take advantage of me... Too badly and when I can I'll continue to buy them some drinks when I have some disposable income.

BIGD · #4 10-31-2005, 01:26 PM

I Am Not In The Service Now, But 40 Years Ago You Could Get Laid In Okinawa For $2.... I Spent A Couple Of Hours With A Beautiful Girl In Barcelona For A $.50 Cent Beer And $5.00.... Inflation Has Affected All Of Us. I Made $240.00 A Month As An E-4 Over 4, So I Guess It's All Relative.... Sometimes, When We're Young, We Do Dumb Things....live And Learn. :p

Stick · #5 10-31-2005, 08:13 PM

I don't think that's the point of this post... yeah Prostitution is around. But you can do other things with these girls besides sex. Sometimes its nice to be able to just sit and talk.. ok try to talk to them. I like learning about where they come from, and some of Tagalog (language of the Philippines) I'm getting too old to just look for a piece of ass, but I'm not totally stupid and won't turn it down if offered.

mike · #6 11-01-2005, 11:04 AM

I will not judge anyone or take the moral high ground on this subject. People make choices in life and must live with the consequences.

In some ways I feel sorry for these girls (at least for the ones that are trapped) and in other ways I feel no sorrow at all for them. These girls are making a ton of money, manipulating GIs and living a better life than in the Philippines (besides living 5-10 girls in an apartment). Their job is selling companionship pure and simple. They play a dangerous game of selling sex without actually having sex unless the price is right. Having a GI spend $100 - $200 in juices while getting drunk can be dangerous. In most cases these bar girls juggle 10+ guys/customers to keep them coming back.

I think the bar owners that hire bar girls are a different breed. The bar owners in general milk the GIs for every penny and treat the girls like slaves.

First, the Songtan bar owners charge way too much for drinks. Many of them charge $3-4 for a shot of Soju. A bottle of Soju costs $1-2 in a Korean convenience store and I am sure the Bar owners get it much cheaper buying in bulk from the producers. You can get 8-10 shots out of a bottle of Soju, so you are paying $30 for a bottle that they pay less than a $1 for. Want to buy a bar girl a shot of Soju? You will pay $20 per shot or $200 for the bottle.

Second, the bar owners typically force these girls to live 8-10 in a 2 bedroom apartment. They take their passports and use it against them. These girls are lucky to get one day off a month and a few hours a day. Reading the first post of this thread (about Kunsan) convinces me that many off these girls must be spending their time off as prostitutes.

Finally, the “juice” typically has no alcohol in it, so you are paying $10 for the girls’ time. If you want to buy the girls a drink with alcohol in it you will pay $20. So, a typical night for a GI to spend with a juicy girl will cost him $100 - $200 in drinks (and this is just for the companionship). Each girl will have regulars that they will milk and bring the bar tons of money. I am sure the popular bars in Songtan take in well over $3,000 on a Friday or Saturday night. So, bottom line I really don’t feel bad for these girls.

Mike

UtopiaGurl · #7 11-04-2005, 04:09 PM

Bar owners in Korea are pigs! i formerly working there and i can tell you they are bad people. If you pay the barfine no matter how much the girl get zero! They always say you have penalty so they not pay. But the problem is not the u guys only problem is all the money go to the owner.

mike · #8 11-04-2005, 05:17 PM

Utopiagurl,

I hear more and more that the girls are treated like that. You should tell us more about the conditions you worked and lived under.

Mike

vamale1424 · #9 11-05-2005, 08:11 PM

Utopiagurl,

I would love to hear more of what you have to say about the bar owners. I think we all know that all they are after is the dollar. I have talked to a few girls that say they get lied to before they come here, they are told they are comming here to be singers. Is this true? I have to admit that I have been played by a girl at a club, I fell for her hard. I will tell anyone this, It is not worth it and if you think your the only boyfriend she has then your only fooling yourself. It's tough to resist but if we don't then these bar owners will continue to make a killiing off of our hard earned money. I have just sat at a bar and watched guys come in there night after night dropping well over $50 a night, sometimes more. I almost want to tell them to wake up, your getting played. But they probably will not believe me. I know if some one had told me that I was getting played I would not have believed them. I truely hate this town for the weay they treat GI's and the way they treat anyone that is not Korean. ie..Phillipenos

mike · #10 11-05-2005, 08:28 PM

vamale1424,

You have some excellent points. I would say $50 is way too low. I have gone to my favorite spot and seen a bar girls with a guys for several hours. I would say you can expect the girl to drink 3-6 juices and hour or $30-$60.

Want to have some fun? Ask your favorite bar girl to see her cell phone contact list.

Don't be surprised if a) she doesn't let you or b) she lets you and there are 40 guy names on the phone. These girls are here for one thing and that is to make money. Sure, some marry GIs, but from what I hear it will cost a GI well over $3,000 to pay off the bar girl's debt to the bar.

My suggestion is to go down town, have fun, and wait to you get home for a serious relationship. If you want a girlfriend find a Korean not associated with the bars or another military member. Your ATM card will thank you for it.

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