South Korea has long been home to spin-offs of brothels that provide nearly (but not quite) sexual services. But “hug rooms” are the latest phenomenon as lonely men are shelling out $30 to mingle with professional huggers for 30 minutes.
Hug rooms, which claim to offer nothing more than “embraces,” started a few years ago in the industrial city of Anyang in the Gyeonggi Province, where only an average of five couples in every 1,000 people in the city’s total population of around 610,000 were married in 2012. Anyang’s Po-Ong Bang, which literally translates to “hug room” in English, started a domino effect and can now be seen across the country.
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The Anyang hug room, located in the fourth floor of a business building, has seven 100-square foot rooms, just big enough to fit a sofa and a small table. Customers, mostly in their 40s and 50s, are treated to women in their early 20s who “treat them with warmth like a girlfriend,” reports the Munhwa Ilbo. During the embrace, an alarm clock on the table keeps track of the 30-minute time limit.
South Korean weekly Ilyo Sisa reports that customers who visits the hug room in Incheon are even asked to brush their teeth upon entering the room, hinting that the extent of “embracing” with the women in these hug rooms may go beyond just hugging. Likewise, the hug room owner in Anyang said that for an extra fee, customers can get more time or go to a “second round” with the women.
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“I never knew that hug rooms existed,” an anonymous police officer said. “These places are hard to investigate and punish, because they don’t engage in on-site prostitution.”
