Jeju Loveland
South Korea's only sexual theme park sheds tradition and taboos.
Tradition reigns in South Korea as something to be revered and followed. Public displays of affection are frowned upon, living with a boyfriend is taboo before marriage, and being single after 30 is a general no-no. So what happens when tradition clashes with the present-day, more liberal generation? The answer is Jeju Loveland.
The making of
In 2002, 20 artists who were graduates of Hongik University in Seoul started creating what would form to be Korea’s only sexual theme park. Located on Jeju Island, close to the southwestern corner of the Korean peninsula, the park opened its gates in 2004. The exhibition halls that house a gift shop and gallery are made to resemble traditional Korean domes, but that’s where the traditional aspect of the park ends.
Not a regular walk in the park
Walking through the front gates you are greeted by the park’s two mascots: Bulkkeuni, a phallus wearing what appear to be yellow mittens, and Ssaekkeuni, a vagina sporting a floppy hat and bow. The washrooms to the left have, on the men’s door, two breasts as handles and, on the women’s door, an erect penis as a doorknob.
The park is structured around a lake that contains a larger-than-life statue of two pairs of entwined legs, upside-down in the water as if the partners’ upper bodies are under the lake’s surface. Walking along the border of the lake lets you view the park’s sexual sculptures, ranging from the tame, fully-dressed young lovers leaning over to kiss each other, to a larger-than-necessary sculpture of a hand pleasuring a vagina, to a collection of descriptive sexual positions labeled as “American”, “Indian”, “African”, “Japanese”, and “Greek”.
“The place instigating your sexual mind.”
Among the erotic sculptures meant to instigate your sexual mind – as Loveland’s website claims – lies an exhibition hall wholly dedicated to sex toys. Not for buying but simply for display, some of the toys are attached to switches you can click on to see just how effective a certain toy may be. Korean ajummas – a term often used to refer to older Korean women – are surprisingly stone-faced when walking through this hall. One woman flicked a switch attached to an incredibly large dildo, turned her head quizzically from side to side as it flopped itself from left to right, turned the switch off and proceeded to the next display.
A few minutes later the same woman stepped out of the exhibition hall, saw the massive penis fountain and started giggling hysterically with her hand covering her mouth – another tradition to be followed by Korean women. While walking through the park, the hand-covering-massive-giggles look is most common among the Korean women, who seem both fascinated and embarrassed within the park’s walls.
Near the end of the tour, after passing the tinted-windowed car bouncing up and down with orgasmic sounds escaping its speakers, is a what can be interpreted as a dedication to the ajummas. It’s a series of sculptures depicting ajummas prowling after their emaciated husbands with a look of sexual hunger on their face. The faces of the husbands, however, have terror written on them, and in each depiction he is running for his life.
Where do you go?
Whether you’re on business on Jeju Island or you’re simply vacationing, Jeju Loveland is a definite must on the list of things to do. It’s only 10 minutes from the international airport, and is open from 9am to midnight. The park is for those 18 years and older, though – it’s definitely not a place to bring the kiddies.
Address: 680-26, Yeon-dong, Jeju-si, Jeju-do, South Korea
Phone: 82-64-712-6988
Fax: 82-64-712-6989
