[WHY] 'Those with tattoos are not allowed to enter'

Industry

Published: 09 Dec. 2023, 06:00 Updated: 18 Dec. 2023, 12:41

[WHY] 'Those with tattoos are not allowed to enter'

Character Chorong, a secondhand car dealer featured in “The Roundup: No Way Out 3” has tattoos all over his body. [JOONGANG PHOTO]

“Entrance is not allowed if you have a bigger-than-15-centimeter [six-inch] tattoo.”

“Please cover your tattoo with clothes to enter this gym.”

These kinds of notices are now occasionally seen in front of public gyms and swimming pools, banning people with certain sizes of tattoos from entering or requiring that such tattoos be covered.

Public complaints are ubiquitous on social media, with some arguing that such action violates people’s freedom to have tattoos.

No Tattoo Zone [SHUTTERSTOCK]

Advocates, however, argue that the business owners also have the right to set such rules if the tattoos place considerable inconvenience on other customers.

One-third of Korea’s adult population, or some 13 million people, have tattoos as of the end of 2022, according to data from the Ministry of Health and Welfare. That figure includes semi-permanent cosmetic ink, like eyebrow tattoos, which are not immediately visible to other people.

The market is growing rapidly with its value estimated at 2 trillion won ($1.6 billion) in Korea so far. As the number proves, tattoos are now prevalent in Korean society, especially for younger people.

But why is Korea still so unaccepting of tattoos — or, at least, of their exposure?

Young gangsters in Korea [JOONGANG PHOTO]

“No Tattoo Zone” — Is this really a norm in Korea?

Well, it has been the norm at private or membership-based locations like golf courses and their saunas. But that culture has begun expanding to public locations that people are meant to be able to use easily, without any barriers.

A gym in Yeoksam-dong in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, recently uploaded a poster that reads, “Please avoid exposing excessive tattoos.”

“In case you have tattoos covering your legs and arms, please wear long sleeves or long pants [when working out in the gym,]” the poster continues.

Some people were opposed to the announcement, but the gym still kept the rule hanging in front of its door.

“Excessive tattoos can be a threat or some kind of burden to some people, so I requested that they cover the tattoos with clothes,” the owner of the gym told the Korea JoongAng Daily. “Our customers really liked my action."

A gym in Yeoksam-dong in Gangnam District, southern Seoul recently uploaded a poster saying, “Please avoid exposing excessive tattoos.” [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Conrad Seoul in Yeongdeungpo District, western Seoul, restricts people with excessive tattoos from using their swimming pool unless they rash guards or put bandages to cover them.

A notice in the Fairmont Ambassador Seoul Hotel's fitness center states that “guests who have a tattoo of 15 centimeters or more are not allowed to enter.”

Grand Josun Busan has a similar rule, stating that people with tattoos longer than 15 centimeters should cover those tattoos with a patch before entering its sauna.

“I’ve seen the ‘No Tattoo Zone’ when using saunas in golf courses,” said Lee Young-mee, a 53-year-old woman living in Gyeonggi. “But I feel like the signs are now easily seen in public locations like hotels.”

A 28-year-old Rolls-Royce driver who ran over a woman in her 20s in Apgujeong-dong, Gangnam District, southern Seoul is shown to have tattoos all over his arms and legs. [JOONGANG PHOTO]

Tattoos behind young criminals

Criminals and major suspects in crimes that occurred in Korea in recent months have turned out to have tattoos. This may be behind some of the hostility toward the art.

Pictures of a 28-year-old Rolls-Royce driver who ran over a woman in her 20s in Apgujeong-dong in Gangnam District, southern Seoul are all over the internet, showing that the driver has tattoos all over his arm and leg.

The so-called MZ jopoks, who have been found to be behind various crimes related to drugs and sexual assault, often show off their tattoos via social networking platforms like Instagram and Twitter in an attempt to recruit members. Jopok means gangster in Korean, and the MZ jopoks casually mean those all under 30.

There are around 5,500 gangsters in Korea as of the end of August. People in their 20s constituted a plurality of that group at 28.6 percent. A full 679, or 27.3 percent were in their 30s, and 25 percent were in their 40s, according to data from the Korean National Police Agency.

“Tattoos are relatively popular among young people, as they caught on with the trend via social media,” said Park Young-soo, head of Comfort Plastic Surgery in Gangnam District, southern Seoul.

“The older generation, who are not familiar with tattoos, see them as unusual,” Park added.

Tattooed criminals often appear in television dramas and shows.

Chorong, a secondhand car dealer featured in “The Roundup: No Way Out 3” has tattoos all over his body and is a character who used to work for a gangster group.

Illegal tattoos on Korean gangsters' bodies. They often show off the tattoos on social media in an attempt to recruit members. [JOONGANG PHOTO]

The hostility — since when and why?

The Confucianism prevalent in Korea tends to breed a negative perception toward tattoos. Confucianism teaches that it is right to keep bodies as they were at birth.

Tattoos remain taboo in mainstream media as well. Television producers cover up actors’ tattoos with skin-colored tape or mosaic them, though the Korea Communications Commission has no specific regulations about airing tattoos on-screen.

However, the fact that tattoos are illegal in Korea may play the biggest role in its negative perception.

Around 66 percent of Korean adults said tattoos are “faulty or frightening,” in a recent Korea Research survey of 1,000 people aged 18 or older.

Sixty percent said tattoos are “disgusting.”

Character Chorong, a secondhand car dealer featured in “The Roundup: No Way Out 3” has tattoos all over his body. [JOONGANG PHOTO]

Are tattoos really illegal in Korea?

Getting a tattoo isn’t legal, but getting one from a tattoo artist is.

Confusing, right? Under Korea’s legal system, tattooing is considered a medical practice, so it can only be carried out by those with a medical license.

This means that almost all 13 million people in Korea who have tattoos — one-fourth of its population — got them illegally, according to tattoo artist Doy, whose real name is Kim Do-yoon.

“Korea is the only country in the world to deny the existence of tattooists,” Doy said. “Even if doctors perform tattoos, they are still illegal, as the related equipment is not approved in Korea.”

“This means, basically, that all the tattoos carried in Korea were illegal,” Doy said.

There are an estimated 250,000 tattooists in Korea as of now, according to Do.

Doy, who has over 440,000 followers on Instagram, is a global tattoo artist who is known for inking celebrities like Brad Pitt, Lily Collins and Coldplay’s Chris Martin.

Doy is also on trial. After tattooing a celebrity in 2021, he was tried, found guilty, and fined. He has since appealed to a higher court.

He also founded Korea’s first tattoo artist union in 2020 and has been working toward legalizing tattooing by non-doctors.

“This rule is totally wrong but has not been solved for decades. Doctors constantly oppose it mentioning safety,” Doy added. “This is such a big obstacle to the so-fast growing tattoo market in Korea and worldwide-recognized Korean tattooists.”

“Korean tattooists are the highest-paid artists in the global scene,” Doy said. “It’s no exaggeration to say that the tattoo trend starts from Seoul.”

Fourteen of the 40 tattooists at Bang Bang Tattoo, a famous tattoo studio in New York, are Korean, Doy explained.

The size of the tattoo market is around 2 trillion won this year, up 67 percent on year, according to the Korea Tattoo Association.

Japan had a similar policy until in Sept. 2020, when the country's Supreme Court ruled that tattooing does not constitute a medical procedure, which allows non-doctors to engage in the practice.

Tattoo artist Doy, whose real name is Kim Do-yoon, calls for legalizing tattooing by non-doctors at a press conference [JOONGANG PHOTO]

Safety, what about it?

Doctors argue that tattooing by non-doctors will harm people’s health — even lives — and that an action that directly relates to human life cannot be approached with an aura of business.

“Tattooing is an invasive procedure that may cause Keloid in skin and other infectious diseases,” the Korean Medical Association said in a statement. “Also, when it is done by unsanitary equipment, it has a risk of causing hepatitis B or C, syphilis and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome."

Ironically, however, not all doctors oppose the legalization of tattoos.

Cho Myung-shin, head doctor at St. Vincent’s Aesthetic and Tattoo Clinic, argues that Korea's unconditional ban rather damages the public.

“Under the current rule, customers cannot be protected when actual damages have occurred, ” Cho said.

“If it’s too hard to ease the restriction at this time, we can at least expand the scope of people who can carry out tattoos,” Cho added. “Korea has around 1 million nurses and nurse assistants. If we at least allow them to carry out tattoos, it could be a good way to protect the public.”

“No XX Zone”

Tattooing is just the latest trend — Korea has many zones that restrict some groups of people from entering public places.

“No Kids Zones,” or bans on children younger than 13 entering certain restaurants and cafés, was the outset of the trend. Establishments began adopting such zones in 2008 when a two-year-old suffered a burn after colliding with an employee who was holding a brazier at a charcoal-grilled pork restaurant in Jecheon, North Chungcheong.

A court found the restaurant half guilty for the incident and ordered it to compensate related damages.

Another restaurant, in Busan, was ordered to pay 41 million won to the family of a 10-year-old who was burned after crashing into a worker who was walking with hot water.

There are around 500 locations where children are banned from entering, according to data from the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

“No Senior Zones,” which ban customers aged 60 or older from entering, are also often seen in Korea.

In September, a café in Seocho District, southern Seoul, faced public backlash after its employee delivered a letter to a senior customer ordering him to leave.

“You’ve been in the café so long,” the memo read. “Young customers never come to the area you are in.”

“No Twenties Zones,” “No Couple Zones, and “No Rapper Zones” are also among the examples.

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]