Cracking down on company cards! Not far from glitzy office towers of Seoul are the frenzied hangouts where business is really done: a cacophony of karaoke joints, shady neon-lit parlors, and cluttered barbecue restaurants full of drunken managers ordering their junior staff to pound shots. To Koreans, the business districts of American cities appear staid, orderly and a bit dull.
No salesman and the majority are men gets far here unless he can sing mean, inebriated karaoke and then slug through negotiations the next morning with a thumping headache.
What happens when this macho after-hours culture goes too far, littering the company tab with payments to prostitutes and hostess clubs? You can always trust your new business partner. He spoke to GlobalPost on condition of anonymity, which is customary in South Korea. Top tier. Only the wealthiest executives could afford it. South Korean civic groups and a few lawmakers have long pushed to clean up business and make it friendlier to women and immigrants.
Entertainment expenses are tax-deductible up to a limit. The ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the corporate entertainment report. Paid sex in Korea is a complicated, compartmentalized business, the consultant explained. There are, for instance, four strata of the fabled room salon.
Higher-end haunts can be exclusive, turning away people without invitations and foreigners, who tend to find their niche in US Army districts.
