SARS Forces Brothels to Shun Foreigners

By Soh Ji-young
Staff Reporter
``Miari Texas,���� a red-light district in Seoul, is causing a stir for its new policy of refusing foreign customers.

From this month, banners reading ``foreigner off-limits���� have been put up in front of entrances to the brothel district situated in Songbuk-dong, for the first time since it began business 45 years ago.

Brothel owners are saying the measure was unavoidable as the recent increase of foreign customers, mostly from Southeast Asian countries and China, are seriously affecting their business.

``As there is widespread belief that foreign workers spread AIDS and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Korean customers are being driven away,���� said Chon Kyong-bong, a brothel owner who conducted business in Miari for more than two years. He is serving as the head of the owners�� committee that adopted the resolution of not accepting foreigners.

Female employees themselves also show reluctance to provide services to them in fear they will contract diseases, he said.

``Although we feel bad for the migrant workers who are here in a foreign land, we have to think of the health of our employees, who have weak immune systems since they drink a lot of alcohol while working,���� Chon told The Korea Times.

Previously known as the leading red-light district in Seoul, Miari Texas had once boasted more than 300 establishments but strict police crackdowns and loss in customers had driven more than 100 to close.

Although tourists from Japan and other countries have occasionally visited the district in the past, it was pretty much unknown to foreigners until the last two to three years, when migrant workers began flocking to the district, the owner said.

Since then, Miari Texas is being called a second Itaewon, due to the large number of foreign workers who come from nearby cities and hang around the area until morning while waiting for buses and subways to resume, Choi said.

Justification of the reasons surrounding the measure aside, the newly-enforced entrance ban against foreigners is expected to cause controversy as it is perceived to be based on racial prejudice.

``Assuming foreign workers easily spread AIDS and SARS and expressing that view publicly is a typical form of racial discrimination,���� said Choi Hyun-mo, director of the Korea Migrant Workers�� Human Rights Center.

Meanwhile, Miari brothel owners have also resolved to clean up their act to improve their tarnished image and attract more customers, through regular cleaning up of the district and hosting bazaars for the needy.

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What a sentence. This is why I love reading, you never know when you're going to come across a sentence like that. Humanity in 50 words or less. Thanks, TR.

I'd unravel ev'ry riddle
For any individ'le
In trouble or in pain

With the thoughts you'd be thinkin'
You could be another Lincoln,
If you only had a brain.

Oh, I could tell you why
The ocean's near the shore,
I could think of things I never thunk before
And then I'd sit and think some more.