This file photo, taken March 26, 2023, shows a park crowded with visitors to see cherry blossoms in full bloom during a festival in Changwon, a provincial city 301 kilometers southeast of Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Apr. 3 (Korea Bizwire) – As cherry blossom season arrives in South Korea, an assortment of online posts have appeared seeking to hire companions to join in the annual festivities of viewing the blooming flowers.
One such listing on a secondhand trading site offered 70,000 won for a four-hour stint from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on April 10, with the caveat that applicants include details on their age and Myers-Briggs personality type.
“Electronic labor contracts will be drafted, and up to two meals plus dessert provided,” read the post, which noted that work dates and times were negotiable.
Last month, a post titled “Seeking One-Day Cherry Blossom Date Worker (Female)” appeared on an online community popular with office workers.
The anonymous writer explained a desire to spend a day “having meals together with a companion while enjoying the cherry blossoms,” and was recruiting a woman to view the cherry blossoms with on April 6 or 7 along the Han River and Yeouido district of Seoul.
The offered pay was 20,000 won per hour for an 8-hour shift, amounting to 160,000 won for the day’s work. Electronic labor contracts, transportation and up to two meals plus snacks were also included.
The online listings sparked a range of reactions, with some lauding the generous hourly rate while others suggested more conventional dating services.
Some empathized with the desire for companionship amid busy work lives leaving little time for courtship. However, experts caution the phenomenon hints at deeper societal ills.
“This underscores the reality of the present youth generation, immersed in fierce competition with little leisure to cultivate opposite-sex friendships,” said one social critic, who warned of ethical pitfalls in monetizing emotions and a potential slippery slope towards commercializing intimacy.
“We must take heed that this excessive pragmatism does not lead to wrongful commodification of sexuality.”
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
