A few years ago, one of the English-language newspapers papers in South Korea ran a special report (i.e. advertisement) on a thriving new business that rents out “friends” by the hour. According to the article, customers rent these “friends,” not for sex, or even for friendship, but rather for the appearance that one actually has friends. Weddings were the most common occasion: brides and grooms with no friends apparently pay handsomely for appearances to the contrary.
It’s a sad business, or perhaps it’s a reflection of a sad society. In comparison with this, old fashion prostitution–the sex trade–somehow seems romantic, even humane. But from renting out friends to attend one’s wedding, it’s a short step to renting out one’s marriage partner. And that is exactly what is now happening. According to this Korea Times article (i.e. advertisement) there are businesses offering husbands and wives–not for sex (they say), or for love, or for anything else a spouse might offer, but simply for the appearance of having a spouse.
