The Marmot’s Hole

Man, I love this country. Both Kevin of Incestuous Amplification and Mike of SEB point out this hot news flash, courtesy the Korea Herald:

Hooters, an U.S. restaurant chain renowned for its waitresses’ sex appeal, will make its first inroads into Korea in April next year.
CFC Korea, which runs the Korean outlets of Washington-based global coffee chain Seattle’s Best Coffee, said Monday that it formed a license agreement with Hooters America Inc. to set up the first branch of the restaurant chain in the Jungmun resort complex on Jeju Island.
The “Hooters Girls” will be wearing uniforms consisting of shorts, a tank top, and a short-sleeve or long-sleeve T-shirt, and about one-third of them will be foreigners, according to CFC Korea.
Menu items will include steak and chicken among others, while alcoholic beverages such as wine and beer will be also served.
The company plans to open additional stores in the southern Seoul area next September and plans to advance into North Korea under its long-term business scheme.
“Hooters” is a slang term for a portion of the female anatomy, although the restaurant has an owl in its logo and uses the owl theme sufficiently to allow debate to occur over the meaning’s intent.
The Atlanta-based franchise operates over 330 Hooters branches in 43 U.S. states and 11 nations across Asia, Europe and Latin America.

I’m afraid I have to agree with Kevin of IA:

Currently there are 15 million Korean men dusting off their resumes for a shot at CFC Korea. Where do I buy stock in the number of sexual harrassment lawsuits being filed on the opening day of Hooters Korea? Easy money.
Seeing as how Korean men generally paw, harrass, and molest conservatively dressed waitresses who aren’t paid to show off their goodies…the atmosphere in the Korean Hooters will likely be similar to room salons, and that aint pretty. Imagine Sean Penn in Casualties of War.

And in reference to that 1/3 foreign staff:

Oh what I wouldn’t pay to watch the interview process for that one-third. I imagine about 30 adjoshis standing around, one hand taking care of the pocket pool while the other directs the Russians and Philipinos to take off their tops so as to get a better squeeze off the melon. Hooters quality control is strict.
I imagine they’ll probably have to raise that one-third quota for foreigners too. If Hooters has to rely on the local talent for large breastage, they may have to change the name of the restaurant to “Hummingbirds.” Cleavage in Korea is about as rare as a Canadian without a flag on his backpack.

Continuing the theme, Brian of Cathartidae points out this piece of news from the Joongang Ilbo:

Seoul police are investigating a spouse-swapping sex ring, but they have not been able to press charges against the high-income swingers because no law exists against couples exchanging sexual favors.
Seven middle-aged couples gathered Oct. 5 in the evening at a home in Icheon, Gyeonggi province, southeast of Seoul, according to the police. They started the evening with a barbecue and drinks, and afterward they undressed and began dancing while exchanging partners. They retired in pairs to separate bedrooms with someone other than their spouse. The people, who were members of a swingers club, included physicians, executives of medium-size businesses, public servants and college professors.

Well, thank heavens the cops are on this one - in this time of recession, the room salons, barbershops, massage parlors, and tea rooms sure as hell don’t need the competition.