South Korea stggl to nta new outbreak amid anti-gay backlash | South Korea | The Guardian

Contents:

• THE BT GAY BARS SEOUL
• THE BEST SEOUL GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS SEOUL
• SOUTH KOREA STGGL TO NTA NEW OUTBREAK AMID ANTI-GAY BACKLASH
• LE GUI HOR DU SéOUL GAY
• GAY LIFE SOUTH KOREA
• SEOUL GAY MAP
• GAY SCENE SEOUL? - SEOUL FOM
• KENGO MASSAGEHOTELS · LUXURYHOTELS · MID-RANGE + BUDGETHOTEL DISUNTSBARSDANCE CLUBSMASSAGECISE CLUBSSNASTOURSCY GUIGAY MAPSHOW MOREKENGO MASSAGE

THE BT GAY BARS SEOUL

Special thanks to Ross, Travelg Gay, jtsurf12, spartanalum, PJack, gymtoy, Chichubby3rd, byungdohsuh, Demian71, boyboy1976, Gabrielkr, njbear1965, rayrrr, geme, cyrc_84, sglenote, KokAsianBear, themeant, FloridaBoy, bigozibear, ratte, Specter, Byungdohsuh, Graeme, Ken, Jyong, Robbie, Louis Y., John S., Charlie, and David! Seoul has hundreds of gay bars spread around a handful of neighborhoods, but most tourists bee faiar wh Itaewon, a foreigner-iendly enclave that seems to have people om every untry on the pla wanrg around, along wh many Amerin and Korean soldiers. The gay heart of Itaewon, nicknamed "Homo Hill", has seen an explosn of foreigner-iendly, upsle gay bars, a nvenient lotn.

THE BEST SEOUL GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS SEOUL

The clientele is VERY mixed both as to orientatn (gay, lez, bi, straight, other) as well as ethnicy, wh beg the one of the most popular LGBTQ night spots for foreigners Korea. Jongno is Seoul's biggt gay enclave, wh more than a hundred clubs and venu loted the center of Seoul the Nagwon Dong neighborhood to the north and east of Topkol Park (Inpennce Park). But, Jongno is changg wh the tim and newer addns to the gay neighborhood tend to be larger, more open and more ternatnal outlook.

In the eveng, the lan and alleys of this nsely packed, low-rise area, bee filled wh food tents, tipsy salarymen, and thoands of gay men gog to and om their favore havens. But if you're alone, try some of the bars listed below where you'll be at ease wh a more ternatnal gay bar system and iendly, English-speakg staff to wele you. Korean, English and Che languag are spoken here, so, for foreign visors, 's a good place to get updated rmatn about gay culture Korea.

SOUTH KOREA STGGL TO NTA NEW OUTBREAK AMID ANTI-GAY BACKLASH

Authori South Korea are stgglg to nta a new ronavis outbreak lked to the pal’s nightclub district as a backlash agast the untry’s gay muny creas, promptg fears LGBT people will fail to get tted out of fear of beg Korea had been praised for s novative efforts to nta the panmic, gog om the send most fected regn outsi Cha to havg jt a handful of s before the latt outbreak a week the creasg number of s related to nightclubs Seoul is raisg ncerns about a possible send wave as well as over the high level of eply entrenched homophobic attus the nservative 35 new s, 29 were found to be lked to Itaewon, the pal’s gay district, acrdg to officials om the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Preventn (KCDC), brgg the total number of s related to the clubs to emergence of the clter prompted officials to ph back the re-openg of schools by one week, wh stunts ially set to return to class stag startg mister Park Baeg-beom said the lay was “evable” orr to guarantee the safety of stunts. GraphicAfter Kookm Ilbo, a lol media outlet wh lks to an evangelil church, reported that bs vised by an fected man over the long weekend were gay clubs, many other South Korean media followed su, revealg not only the inty of clientele but also some of their ag and the nam of their media enzy reached a new level when another fected man was found to have been to an LGBT sna Gangnam, promptg a slew of homophobic ntent newspapers and reportg, along wh South Korea’s e of the trace and tt method, has led to members of the gay muny reportg feelg sred to get tted and even suicidal.

“I adm was a huge mistake to vis the gay district when the rona suatn was not fully over, ” Lee Youngwu, a gay man his30s, told the Guardian “But visg the area is the only time when I n be myself and hang out wh others siar to me.

LE GUI HOR DU SéOUL GAY

”On Saturday the prime mister, Chung Sye-kyun, urged the public to “rea om cricisg a certa muny as will not help efforts to nta the ronavis spread” Jong-geol, the general director of Korean gay men’s human rights group Chgai, told the Guardian that the group had begun unsellg and legal aid servic for those affected by the crisis, addg that Seoul cy officials asked the group to enurage gay men who had vised the clubs to e forward to get tted. “I unrstand that civil servants want to fd a nvenient way to do their jobs but they should realise that South Korea’s gay people do not all belong to one, sgle group.

“It took me a whole week to get up the urage to get tted, ” M Jaeyoung, 27, told the Guardian, “I had to practise sayg ‘oh, of urse I’m not gay’ and even rerd myself several tim to sound natural. As turned out, I was not fected but I cried when I got that text not bee I was happy not to be fected but bee I really hate beg a gay man this untry.

GAY LIFE SOUTH KOREA

Malgré cela, l’homosexualé (et tout ce qui y a tra) rte enre un tabou dans la culture réenne, notamment parce qu’une large part la populatn se pose nservatrs vix-j et chrétiens très religix. Along wh the chang merce have e alteratns human behavr and attus, cludg a recent softeng toward homosexualy by means of high tech munitn and age-old drama. Mostly hidn clubs and bars, pigeon-holed off to late dancg or drkg wh iends and stashed far om fay bs, gay Koreans live wh a very strong heterosexual tradn that clus more than jt the expectatns of takg a spoe.

Except for one major difference: his tentn of studyg the USA is equally, if not more, motivated by his need to breathe valy to his emotnal life as a gay man. There are no gay paras here yet but a few gay anizatns have formed such as Kirikiri and Sappho (lbian groups), Chgai (gay men’s group) and the Coaln of Stunt Gay Rights Groups. More visibly and much more popular, gays and lbians are workg on the Inter and gettg a life–chattg, arrangg iendships and anizg activi.

Jt before I left for Seoul, I typed “Korea gay” to a search enge and was nnected to the Korean BB room where an active list of notic had been recently posted. The gay cyber-muny Asia is burstg out of the closet and crowdg to chat rooms, bullet boards, Yahoo/eGroups and specific web pag.

SEOUL GAY MAP

It is graced wh grand and lite scenery, and is occupied by people of a kd and welg disposn, pecially s gay and lbian muni…jt perfect! “Actually, the suatn for the Korean gay muny is gettg better recent years, wh the openg of many gay bars, night clubs and snas.

GAY SCENE SEOUL? - SEOUL FOM

The gay magaze, Buddy was also first published this year and there are now some anized gay/ lbian muny groups at some universi, or on the Inter. The troductn by this young Korean native is remarkable s mcular optimism about a new dawn for the lbigay muny which has lived ep shadows for untls generatns.

From fluorcent donut shops to the sleazy dim trigue of massage parlors sportg red velvet sofas, the noisy and trendy straight diss, div and fast food jots offers enough distractn and amement to mask a dozen gay bars and diss.

KENGO MASSAGEHOTELS · LUXURYHOTELS · MID-RANGE + BUDGETHOTEL DISUNTSBARSDANCE CLUBSMASSAGECISE CLUBSSNASTOURSCY GUIGAY MAPSHOW MOREKENGO MASSAGE

Itaewon is also home to other gay venu such as Zipper (s possible to fall down the stairs bee the lightg is poor), Out Class (quiet, good for chattg), Trance (drag show on weekends), Why Not?

The Gay Korea webse has this helpful advice: “There are many small bars loted the center of Seoul the Nag Weon Dong neighborhood to the north and east of Topkol Park (Inpennce Park). On Augt 4, 2000, the ‘Korea Herald’ newspaper reported a ntroversial new arrival Seoul: “The first show of s kd ever staged notorly homophobic Korea, the Hahahoho Show featur an all-gay st of ne homosexuals and ne transsexuals. S., England, Japan and Thailand, have long sce regnized the talent of gay members of their muni and ed them to help build succsful tourism dtri.

“We thought this might help get rid of prejudice arisg om ignorance about gays, ” Kim said wh half an eye to the add entertament value of such rmal ssns. The story nclud wh, “a change public attus may be takg place, nsirg that Koreans seem more open to the ia of homosexualy, at least more so than before Hahahoho opened. Another ocsn that recently forced the Korean public to s up and take notice of homosexualy was a popular TV edian /actor who was prsed to out himself last year.

In numero magaz, TV and rad talks shows and newspapers, cludg the Christian Science Monor of January 17, 2001, Hong Seok-chon’s real life story put homosexualy onto the natnal circu.

Some abhorred the immoraly threateng tradnal valu while others wanted him to stand up and be proud, seeg him as wrg a new page Korea’s long reprsed attus about sexualy, pecially gay rights.

” The words are more than a slogan for the lbigays who meet regularly at the Korean Church Centennial Memorial Buildg Seoul. This is among the first and most darg of groups to meet for the exprs purpose of supportg and affirmg the homosexual nature of s drop- members.

For homosexuals, who are monly regard as psychologilly formed and a threat to prec tradnal valu of fay hn, the pariah stat n be suffotg.

But wasn’t until 1991 when Shappo, an Amerin soldier who treated her lbianism as a badge of pri, formed the first visible gay group here. Increasgly, gays are enterg the mastream pecially at universi, formg clubs and f and, as is so evint om the Gay Korea webse, Inter groups across the untry. A new force is at work here: the Seoul Internatnal Queer Film & Vio Ftival, an event voted to explorg gay them whout prejudice or limatns.