[Report] Hunting Pojangmacha Instead of Club 'Boobiboobi'... Itaewon and Hongdae COVID-19 Different World

Gangnam, Yongsan, and Mapo District Clubs
Youth Turn Away from Friday and Saturday Nights as Temporary Closures and Entry Restrictions Begin
Lounge Bars and Hunting Pocha Attract Customers

Temperature and Mask Checks Only at Entry
Sanitizer Sprayed as Quarantine Measure
Staff Also Not Wearing Masks
Concerns Over Infection Spread in Closed Crowded Spaces

Around 11:50 PM on the 14th, the interior of a lounge bar in Itaewon. Most people were either not wearing masks or had them pulled down below their chins while continuing their conversations.

[Asia Economy Reporters Byungdon Yoo, Jeongyun Lee] There were no masks, no quarantine measures, and no COVID-19 there. It was a place filled only with the outburst of youth and commercial tactics targeting them.

Late at night on Saturday the 14th, I visited a lounge bar in Itaewon-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul. This place, with about 80 seats, was packed with around 300 young people enjoying the heat of a 'Bulto (Burning Saturday)'. They lightly swayed their bodies to the music or offered drinks to people at neighboring tables, engaging in spontaneous encounters. The atmosphere heated up with the crowd filling the interior. The aisles were also crowded, making movement difficult. At the lounge bar entrance, about ten young people were seen waiting to enter.

Concerns about infection from the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) seemed like a story from another country. Inside the lounge bar, the number of people not wearing masks was overwhelmingly high. Even those who wore masks had them hanging on their chins to talk with those around them. The worry that COVID-19 could spread through droplets in enclosed, densely populated spaces seemed to be ignored. A 22-year-old woman, Ms. A, who visited the lounge bar that day said, "I'm still young, so I'm not afraid of COVID-19." Mr. B, 23, standing nearby, added, "We don't get COVID-19."

The establishment also appeared largely indifferent to mask-wearing or quarantine measures. Although they checked customers' temperatures and mask-wearing at the entrance, no restrictions were enforced once inside. It seems that lounge bars and so-called 'hunting pochas' are eager to accommodate young people who have 'nowhere to go' after COVID-19. In fact, most clubs in Yongsan-gu, Mapo-gu, and Gangnam-gu have temporarily closed due to concerns over mass infections, or limited the number of entrants if open. Lounge bars and hunting pochas are no different from clubs as they allow light dancing and spontaneous encounters with the opposite sex. In KakaoTalk open chat rooms sharing club information, posts asking "Which clubs are open today?" were continuously posted, followed by questions like "Which hunting pocha is hot?"

Around 1 a.m. on the 14th at a hunting bar near Hongdae.

The hunting pocha near Hongdae visited the previous night (Friday) was also bustling with young people. One hunting pocha had about 20 people waiting to enter, requiring a wait of over 20 minutes to get in. This contrasted with a nearby famous club that had posted a notice about temporary closure and was closed. Mr. Kim, 24, who visited the hunting pocha that day, said, "Since the COVID-19 situation has lasted so long, I feel restless, and my friends called me, so I couldn't not go," adding, "Even though clubs are closed, you can have just as much fun at a hunting pocha." This place also neglected quarantine measures. Apart from a quick spray of hand sanitizer at the entrance, no other measures were taken. Neither customers nor staff wore masks.

Recently, as mass infections of COVID-19 occurred in enclosed spaces such as PC rooms and call centers, both the government and experts have been campaigning to prevent COVID-19 transmission through 'social distancing.' On the 14th, Kwon Jun-wook, Deputy Director of the Central Disease Control Headquarters, said at a briefing, "It is important to strengthen preventive management centered on group facilities, multi-use facilities, and medical institutions," and urged, "Please thoroughly practice 'social distancing' over the weekend and strictly follow personal hygiene rules."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.