North Korea Orders "Eliminate Disorderly Behavior in Bathhouses and Beauty Salons"
Students Involved in Group Sex and Drug Use at Bathhouses
"Bribes Can Avoid Punishment... Eradication Will Be Difficult"
Amid frequent occurrences of obscene acts in North Korea's beauty salons and bathhouses, authorities have taken proactive measures to eradicate such immoral behavior.
Unrelated stock photo. On the morning of October 2, a balloon carrying waste sent from North Korea is flying over Sejong-ro, Seoul, on the way to work. Photo by Heo Younghan younghan@
On the 7th, Daily NK reported, citing a source from North Hamgyong Province, that "the Cabinet's People's Service General Bureau issued a directive on the 10th of last month to the nationwide convenience service network to eliminate immoral behavior in convenience service facilities such as mian (skin beauty) and beauty salons, massage, and bathhouses." The directive included a warning that "despite receiving orders to eradicate social order disturbances, if such incidents are discovered in the future, offenders will be subjected to six months of labor training or, in severe cases, expelled to rural areas." It is known that this directive was issued not only to state-run convenience service facilities but also to those operated by enterprises, organizations, and individuals.
Recently, in North Korea, there has been an increase in cases where residents are permitted to run private businesses for the purpose of tax collection. Residents prefer privately operated facilities over state-run convenience service facilities due to the poor environment and low quality of service at the latter, and it is reported that immoral acts frequently occur at these private establishments. A source explained, "It is customary for wealthy people to receive massages when they go to bathhouses, and a culture has formed where prostitution alongside massage is taken for granted." The source added, "Although individuals know these activities are illegal, they engage in them to make money, so no matter how much the state warns, it seems difficult to stop obscene acts occurring in convenience service facilities," and further explained, "Even if caught in crackdowns, they can avoid legal punishment through bribes, so such acts will continue unabated."
Earlier, in June, an incident occurred in Hamhung City where a total of six male and female students from a prestigious middle school (equivalent to a high school in South Korea) engaged in group sexual intercourse and drug use in a bathhouse. Although bathhouses are originally not supposed to allow men and women to enter together, they reportedly paid the person in charge an additional $70 (about 96,000 KRW) on top of the usage fee and rented the entire bathhouse from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. for two hours. This incident became public after one of the students boasted about it to a friend, and a resident reported it to the Hamhung City Safety Department, bringing it to public attention.
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