Christ, I don’t know what to say about this:
When Robert broke up with his partner, he was angry, bitter, and felt betrayed. After more than two years of what he thought was a stable monogamous relationship, he discovered that the person he loved and trusted had in fact cheated on him several times.
In what would normally be described as a “bad break-up,” Robert has more than betrayal to deal with - he has to cope with a disease that makes him a social outcast in Korea. Robert’s boyfriend gave him HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS.
He says that the gay community in Korea is in denial about HIV, and the conditions are ripe for an explosion of the virus. What also concerns Robert is that his ex-boyfriend, Sang-chul, is still having casual sex and possibly infecting others. (Robert and Sang-chul are not their real names.)
“He is very (sexually) active. I know what he does in saunas and jjimjilbangs,” he said referring to gay saunas and steam rooms where men have anonymous, often unprotected, sex.
And to add to his grief, he can’t live in Korea and be open about his condition because the government forcefully deports foreigners with HIV. He now lives in the United States, where he’s undergoing treatment.
26 Comments
That was Jane’s last article at the Korea Herald. She sure knows how to go out with a bang.
Gays in Korea? Never….
I figure the same thing will happen here as it did back home: AIDS will be the
“gay plague” until hetros start showing up in droves with it.
Say goodbye to the condomless fuck, Korea.
“Gays in Korea? Never….”
Look at the latest Korean popular media culture. It’s full of themes on homosexuals.
This flies in the face of badly outdated and perpetuating expat stereotypes of Koreans as denying there are no gays in Korea.
It’s sort of an easy stereotype to make when you have students who absolutely insist on the idea that (apart from the expats) there are no gays in Korea. Of course, it might not be the most widely-held view anymore, but it’s still there.
i thought all korean guys were gay?
Holy crap, that’s something I’ve never heard… But when you think about it, I bet that policy is rather common around the world. Just like in America some years ago when AIDS was a gay problem, to many countries around the world AIDS is an “American (and African) problem”. People use the logic, “it’s not originating from our country, which means it has to come from the outside. Keep the outsiders out and we have nothing to worry about.”
I think there is the same attitude in China, (”it’s the foreigners problem, don’t associate with foreigners and you’re fine”) but I’ve never heard of such a law as the one you just pointed out. Does anyone know of this law, or similar laws around the world? Like I said before, I bet there are more then a handful of countries.
A Korean in denial? Say it ain’t so.
Though I have not seen statistics and I do not know if they exist even, Korea is probably fortunate to have far fewer intravenous drug users since they — and dirty needles from blood transfusions, as in China — account for higher rates of HIV infection in other parts of the world.
I could not begin to guess what will happen in Korea but it is likely that this problem will need to be addressed eventually along with issues of sexuality, which Korean society is still learning to deal with. There does seem to be a tremendous lack of public awareness and education on matters pertaining to health and safety, judging from what I have seen in public schools here, but I do see signs of slow improvement since there seems to be no leadership from the government on these issues.
I guess satire without “quotes” doesn’t play over very well with some of you.
Yes, I know there are gays in Korea. One only has to walk up the hill to find the “gay district” there in that cesspool, Itaewon.
What I enjoyed the most in the gay clubs were the number of older Korean men sitting up at the bar watching their younger “toys” dance with each other. Of course, the former having to leave eventually to go back to his wife and kids. This wasn’t always the case, but you notice a trend after the third visit.
Denial is a bittersweet fruit in Korea. Don’t fuck with it. Besides, as expats you should know better and be wrapping up anyway.
At the risk of being named this blog’s unofficial pet Nazi, if I were running a government, I would deport expat disease carriers too. It is a simple public health issue.
If some expats have (AIDS, antibiotic resistant TB, etc), I could count on them doing everything in their power not to infect my citizens OR I could give them the boot and almost eliminate the chance of them infecting my citizens. It is a pretty easy choice if you ask me.
Of course, that premised on the believe that we are allowed to stay here at the pleasure of our hosts. Expats have no right of residence in Korea and the first job of governments is to protect their own citizens.
Don’t know.
Don’t want to know.
Andy J said [quote]Of course, that premised on the believe that we are allowed to stay here at the pleasure of our hosts. Expats have no right of residence in Korea and the first job of governments is to protect their own citizens.[quote/]
not agreeing or disagreeing but it brings up an interesting point….what would the Korean government do if they found an F2 expat (that is married to a Korean citizen with kids in Korea) I he or she tested positive for HIV? Of course, the wife or husband might WANT him/her to be deported if he/she came home with HIV but there are other ways to get it besides sexual contact….have you ever seen hospital phlebotomists using gloves?
Many countries require at least some degree of rudimentary health screening before issuing long-term visas for pretty much that reason (a chest x-ray is fairly standard.) Certainly, a government has a concrete interest in prventing carriers of communicable diseases across their borders. I think the situation changes slightly when said foreigner actually contracts his disease within the borders rather than bringing the disease in with him. Is it really justified as a preventative measure to kick that person out? What, really, is the difference in this case between (1) a foreigner who contracts a disease in-country and (2) a native who does the same? They both pay taxes, and are both otherwise entitled by law to access to health case to treat their problem… The foreigner is just a bit easier (and more socially acceptible) to dispose of. Combine that with the possibility that the government’s policy of casting out foreigners with the disease (while doing little of note for those natives who have it) might reinforce the dangerous stereotype of the disease as being a ‘foreigner-borne illness’, and it really starts to seem like the policy doesn’t do a lot of good for anyone. It also provides a pretty powerful disincentive for any foreigner to ever get tested in Korea, which almost certainly will end up doing more harm than good. If Korea wants to require an HIV screening before issuing visas, then fine… Let them do it. But to deny the people with HIV medical treatment or even a place to stay once they’ve been living and working in the country just seems like the government is in deep denial, dodging its responsibilities to its people (yes, foreigners count too), or both.
“I think the situation changes slightly when said foreigner actually contracts his disease within the borders rather than bringing the disease in with him.”
And how does anyone know if he really did contract the disease in said country? He can be telling the truth or he can be lieng to avoid deportation -nobody would know for sure.
We all know how homosexual men are vulnerable to catching HIV.
Needle-drug culture is the primary vector for transmission of HIV into the heterosexual population in countries where the public-health system is fairly good. Some heterosexual females may become infected by intercourse with male partners, but in general female-to-male transmission is really hard to achieve through intercourse. And so the virus doesn’t hop back to the infected female’s male partners so much in the rich world.
Heterosexual transmission becomes the mode in countries with abominable public-health systems, because where people walk around with untreated gonorrhea or syphilis, or herpetic lesions, their irritated, sometimes-oozing genitals offer a much more direct route into the bloodstream. That’s why in Africa the disease is mainly a heterosexual disease, while in the West, Japan, and Korea it’s preominately (in Korea’s case, almost exclusively) homosexual.
Korea has ubiquitous, affordable primary health care, with urology clinics on every streetcorner, it seems. And no needle-drug culture to speak of. Cultural factors then combine to keep AIDS essentially confined to the homosexual population here.
And cultural factors also make it taboo to reach out to these guys with education as is done in the West. No gay in Korea!
Oh yeah, the statistics. The Ministry of Health reports 94% of the 680 people diagnosed with HIV last year were male, and they suspect that many of the patients lie about having caught it through heterosexual intercourse. Nobody admitted drug use, either.
Fan death, however, knows no gender or sexual orientation when it stalks Korea and only Korea.
Fan death scares the bejebus out of me.
STDs run pretty damned rampant in Korea. I have a friend that makes quite a decent living in a “skin care” clinic. Yes, there are the occasional customers wanting a freckle or two removed, but much business is had removing herpetic lesions with lasers. They offer gonorrhea penicillin cocktails as well, though wrinkle destroying eye-cream is a more popular favorite.
I was told that basically, people don’t really fear it. They get whatever, go get it removed, and continue on with the unprotected sex. Hopefully the younger generation won’t buy into this ignorant sexual custom.
” think there is the same attitude in China, (”it’s the foreigners problem, don’t associate with foreigners and you’re fine”) but I’ve never heard of such a law as the one you just pointed out. “
All foreigners entering China on work, student, or family visas just take a physical exam. Included in that physical exam is an HIV test.
AIDS is definitely not a gay man’s disease in China. There are whole villages of AIDS patients, victims of a blood selling scandal that came to light a few years ago. Villagers were selling their blood, which was collected with dirty needles. This tainted blood was sold to patients, who have also contracted the disease. Stories like this do manage to break through the heavy wall of censorship, and AIDS awareness activities by some of China’s most popular entertainers have brought AIDS out of taboo closet.
It is the ubiquity of the skin care clinics and the ease with which people can seek treatment for the STDs which keeps Korea’s STDs from running rampant.
every country has a right to exercise quarantine as it sees fit to protect its citizens. And if you’re a homosexual male, you should be more responsible than the male who is described in the article. That guy will ultimately be responsible for ruining some other lives.
In other events, today, my US Korean male friend picked up a Harisu music cd cover and said, “she’s hot !”
Obviously, he has not kept up with vital Korean news.
I told him that’s a guy who had his sex changed.
He refused to believe me, until I gave him my ” I don’t lie about this ” face and tone.
It was a classic moment.
i don’t know much about law, but I’m sure the majority of society would agree to severely punish anyone who spreads AIDS with full intent and knowledge.
Lies, this is all lies! Holding hands and sitting on each other’s laps is not sexual. How could anyone in good conscience defame the jjimjillbangs? I personally avoid Iteawon and I have no interest in viewing alleged gay activity. If a person has spent any time on this island they would know that homosexuality is nonexistent. Sure as the sun sets on the Kimchi tree, we know this to be gospel.
WJK, we can’t blame those who get sucked into it!