Nightlife Venues That Never Turn Off the Lights: Hosting Guests in the Dark and Renting Massage Parlors...

Secretly Meeting Only Reserved Guests and Guiding Them to Business Locations
Illegal Operations Persist Despite Police Crackdown Involving 5,000 Officers

Around 1 a.m. on the 25th, at a massage parlor in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Employees from nearby entertainment establishments guided reserved customers to this place.
Photo by Byungdon Yoo tamond@

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] Past midnight in a narrow alley in Seocho-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul. Men who got off a taxi lingered in front of a restaurant, waiting for someone. Soon, another man approached them, and after a brief conversation, they headed somewhere together. The place they went to was an entertainment establishment building. Instead of entering through the main entrance, which had a closure notice due to COVID-19, they entered through the back door. Although the lights on the first and second floors were off and it seemed closed, they did not come out for over an hour.

The situation was similar at another entertainment venue. The original building’s door was firmly shut, but they actively moved somewhere after contacting customers nearby. They headed to a massage parlor about 200 meters away. The massage parlor’s signboard was lit, and the entrance was wide open. SUVs carrying customers came and went frequently. Inside, except for the absence of karaoke machines, a drinking party was held just like in regular entertainment establishments.

As the police have been conducting crackdowns on illegal operations of entertainment facilities for seven weeks to prevent COVID-19 cluster infections, nearly 5,000 people have been caught, but illegal business activities have not ceased.

The National Police Agency announced that from the 5th of last month to the 23rd of this month, they conducted intensive crackdowns on entertainment facilities related to COVID-19 and caught a total of 4,749 people (834 cases). Among them, violations of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act accounted for 4,170 people (494 cases), violations of the Food Sanitation Act for 216 people (46 cases), violations of the Music Industry Act for 348 people (293 cases), and violations of the Act on the Punishment of Acts of Prostitution for 15 people (1 case).

The main targets of the crackdown were △ unauthorized illegal operations △ violations of gathering ban orders (such as recruiting reservation customers through SNS advertisements) △ violations of operating hour restrictions and other quarantine guidelines △ sale of alcoholic beverages and employment of hostesses at karaoke rooms.

Among the major crackdown cases, on the night of the 18th at around 8:40 p.m., an entertainment pub in Gangbuk-gu, Seoul, was caught operating with its signboard lights off and doors locked. They secretly operated for reserved customers, and a total of 20 people, including the owner and customers, were caught on site. On the 19th in Busan, a similar case was caught where a store operated with the lights off and doors closed for reserved customers.

On the 22nd at 12:30 a.m., 18 people including two owners, employees, and customers were caught at a basement level 1 pub in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Although this pub was registered as a regular restaurant, it was actually operated as an entertainment pub, and the owners were booked on charges of violating the Food Sanitation Act. The police collected intelligence that the place opened late at night to receive customers and, after investigating the surroundings, caught the operation in the act and raided the site.

Meanwhile, considering that the intensive crackdown period on entertainment facilities has been extended by three weeks, the police decided to continue the intensive crackdown for the time being.

According to the government’s social distancing adjustment plan, Level 2 distancing will be implemented in the metropolitan area until the 13th of next month. The gathering ban order issued on the 9th of last month for six types of entertainment facilities?entertainment pubs, karaoke pubs, emotional pubs, colatecs, hunting pochas, and holdem pubs?will also be maintained during this period.

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