We wrote earlier in the year about the K-XF Adult Festival, planned to take place in April in Suwon, South Korea.
Along with introducing the event — in essence, a showcase of Japanese porn stars — we also touched on the opposition it had ignited in the country from civic groups, where religious sentiment is stronger than Japan and porn is prohibited. As later became apparent, that was only the start of the event’s troubles.
The organizer faced an uphill struggle. Because it was an adult-only event, customers had to show ID both to purchase tickets and enter the venue.
Controversy then arose around exhibition hall venue and the organizer, Play Joker, was forced to look around for alternatives.
These included a studio Paju City, a cruise ship on the Han River, and a pub in Gangnam, Seoul.
But the mayor of Paju wasn’t happy and launched a campaign to oppose the festival. On a TV talk show, Kim Kyung-il argued that the AV event would lead to prostitution. The inaugural festival was held last year in Gwangmyeong — attracting 1,300 attendees — but there were reports of “special services” available to customers.
“Last year’s festival reportedly charged about 3.5 million won for ‘special services,’ and there are strong signals that it was closely related to prostitution due to the highly enclosed spaces,” Kim claimed, according to the Korea Times.
The Seoul option — a cruise ship at Jamwon Hangang Park — was scuppered because the riverside area is municipally operated and the Seoul mayor made it clear that such an event would not be allowed.
In the end, as reported by the Korea Herald, the festival was canceled days before it was scheduled to take place (nominally due to “safety concerns”), though Play Joker announced that it would return bigger and better than ever.
Can Korean JAV fans overcome this backlash to find ways to meet and celebrate their idols?
The festival had some supporters from anti-feminists.
“A society that limits men’s sexual self-determination and demonizes male instincts is not a normal society,” Representative Cheon Ha-ram from the New Reform Party said. “While female instincts are recognized as legitimate for free and empowered women, male instincts are criminalized, degraded and are regarded with disgust.”
Another controversy, as reported in the Korea JongAng Daily, to emerge subsequently relates to whether or not the many Japanese porn stars scheduled to appear at the festival had obtained an appropriate work visa. Play Joker claimed the performers were appearing for promotional purposes, not for profit-making, and so were exempt from needing short-term work visas, but some AV stars were alleged to be engaged in commercial activities like fan meetings.
The next edition of K-XF is scheduled to take place in Seoul in June. From visa issues to moral qualms and venue troubles, let’s hope it can surmount the obstacles and actually happen this time!
