Skip to content
Korea Host Bars episode artwork

Aug 16, 2012 27 min

Korea Host Bars

from Crossing Continents Hosted by BBC Radio 4

South Korean women, tradition says, are hard-working, respectful to family, and know their place in Korea's Confucian hierarchies. But the country's rapid economic development has meant some startling changes below the surface of that conservative social structure. Perhaps the most controversial is the advent of Host Bars - all night drinking rooms where female customers can select and pay for male companions, sometimes at a cost of thousands of dollars a night. Originally set up to cater to off-duty 'hostesses' and female escorts, they're now proving popular with many other women too. The growth of the industry is throwing up new questions for South Korea's sociologists and politicians as they struggle to reconcile the country's traditional values with the effects of its rapid development. The BBC's Seoul correspondent Lucy Williamson reports.

Episode details come from the podcast's RSS feed.

Embed this episode

Ready to play

Korea Host Bars

0:00 27:57

No transcript yet.

Requests help us decide what to transcribe next.

Share this episode

Similar podcasts

Women Igniting Change® Robbin Jorgensen In a post pandemic world, employees are demanding that their leaders do more than just lead the business. They are looking for their companies to provide a culture of purpose and possibility, navigate changing societal expectations and build a sense of community and belonging.Leaders need to elevate and engage their people by connecting personal values with those of the entire organization, and at the same time inspire collaboration, innovation and results.Robbin Jorgensen, Founder and CEO of Women Igniting Change®, is your host. A former corporate executive who has worked with women leaders in 31 countries on 6 continents, she believes that unleashing the contribution of women is one of the key drivers to moving business and humanity forward.Join Robbin every Monday as she dives into the intersection of business results, women’s leadership and social responsibility. She’ll share interviews with decision makers, provide tangible strategies, highlight women change makers and more a Abdullah Hakim Quick Muslim Central Shaykh Abdullah Hakim Quick, PhD, is the Head of our Islamic History and Homiletics Department. His students dub him as “old school Dr. Quick” and find his Boston accent a rather smile-jerking classroom staple.He has accomplished a lifetime worth of achievements spanning many continents while enlightening the lives of millions. He was born in the United States of America and accepted Islam in Canada in 1970. He pursued his study of Islam at the Islamic University of Madinah in Saudi Arabia where he graduated and received an Ijaza from the College of Da’wah and Islamic Sciences in 1979, one of first two students to do so from the West. He later completed a Masters Degree and a Doctorate in African History at the University of Toronto in Canada.He has served as Imam, Daa’iyyah, teacher and counsellor in the USA, Canada, South Africa and the West Indies. Presently he is a Senior Lecturer with the Islamic Institute of Toronto (I.I.T.).

Frequently asked questions

How long is this episode of Crossing Continents?

This episode is 27 minutes long.

When was this Crossing Continents episode published?

This episode was published on August 16, 2012.

Can I download this Crossing Continents episode?

Yes. Use the download control on the episode player to save the publisher-provided media file.