The sex festival, declared as South Korea’s “first and largest”, was canceled 24 hours before.
The company that organizes the festival, Play Joker, produces legal software. Lee Hee Tae“Almost every developed country has a sex festival, but here in South Korea we don’t even have an adult entertainment culture. I want to take the first steps towards creating one” he said.
Activists argued that the festival was not a festival targeting both genders and accused the organizers of exploiting women in a country where gender violence is common.
The local mayor condemned the event taking place near a primary school, and authorities threatened to revoke the venue’s license if the event went ahead. It was stated that the venue gave up hosting the festival.
Lee said at every opportunity that the festival had to scale down and suffered financial losses as ticket holders demanded refunds.
Japanese porn stars also announced their withdrawal from the event. The stars’ agencies said reactions to the festival were growing and women were worried they could be attacked or even stabbed.
