'1188 Apply for Real-Life I Am Solo'... Controversial Seongnam City Group Meeting Held Privately

Citizen Group Criticizes "Anachronistic Event" but It Proceeds
100 Unmarried Men and Women Aged 2030 Participate

On the 2nd, Seongnam City in Gyeonggi Province held an event called 'Solomon's Choice (SOLOMON)' to arrange meetings for unmarried men and women. Despite criticism that it was an 'anachronistic event,' the city organized a group meeting. Seongnam City stated that it hopes to provide unmarried men and women with opportunities for natural encounters and to spread positive values about marriage.

The participants were unmarried men and women aged 27 to 39 (born between 1985 and 1997) whose resident registration was in Seongnam or who worked at companies in the Seongnam area. Fifty men and fifty women, totaling 100 people, met privately that afternoon at the Wirye Millitopia Hotel in Changok-dong, Sujeong-gu.

Seongnam City promotes the 'Solomon's Choice' event.
[Photo by Seongnam City]

Prior to the event, Seongnam City conducted intensive promotions in areas such as the Pangyo Content Street, where IT companies are concentrated. The event was also publicized on internet cafes, Instagram, and other social media platforms to encourage many participants. From May 22 to June 21, applications were collected in two rounds (1st round on July 2 at Millitopia Hotel, 2nd round on July 9 at Gravity Hotel Seoul Pangyo), with a total of 1,188 applicants: 802 men and 386 women. Participants were selected by lottery.

The event included dating coaching on how to become a likable man or woman, couple recreation praising first impressions, one-on-one rotation conversations, couple games, dinner, and a wine standing party. Participants were divided into ten groups, each consisting of ten people with five men and five women. Assigned to ten teams, they spent about four hours engaging in table conversations and various games to get to know each other. Some participants naturally expressed their feelings by choosing someone they liked. The results of couple selections were not announced on site.

Before the event ended, participants had time to promote themselves and then filled out a final couple form called the 'Some Matching' sheet, listing their top three preferred members of the opposite sex. The organizers stated, "We sent text messages with each other's contact information to participants who mutually confirmed their interest after the event."

Solomon's Choice was planned with the intention of providing unmarried men and women with opportunities for natural encounters, but civic groups such as Seongnam Women's Hotline and the 2023 Seongnam Residents' Assembly Promotion Committee criticized it as an 'anachronistic event,' a 'publicity stunt,' and a 'waste of budget.' The city plans to hold one more event on the 9th. The cost for the two events is 64 million won.

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