The latest craze in South Korea: the jimjibang
| Seoul, South Korea
鈥� A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent.
In public, South Koreans worry about social conformity, but in a 鈥渂ang鈥� they can let their hair down.
鈥淏ang鈥� simply means 鈥渞oom,鈥� in Korean, and much of the popular entertainment here takes place in private rooms that let Koreans have fun and relax away from the disapproving gaze of a rigid society. There鈥檚 noraebang (Korean karaoke) for those who want to sing along in a private space where they鈥檒l only be entertaining their companions, not a roomful of strangers. There鈥檚 also Game-bang (video-game-playing rooms) and DVD-bang (to rent and watch DVDs).
Jjimjilbang (Korean saunas) are the ultimate in 鈥渂ang鈥� entertainment. Unique to Korea, jjimjil-bang have sex-segregated hot pools but also many special sauna rooms that both sexes may share after they鈥檝e donned the requisite uniform: color-coordinated cotton shorts and shirt. Popular sauna rooms include boseokbang (jewelry room), whose special gemstones are claimed to cleanse the skin, and sogeumbang (salt room) for sweating out 鈥渋mpurities.鈥�
Moon Lee, public relations manager for Arirang television, goes to the jjimjilbang often. 鈥淚t鈥檚 my once-a-week to meet friends and relax,鈥� she says. Many jjimjilbang also have noraebang and PC-bang in case visitors feel the need to entertain themselves after their sweat.
