South Korea's 'first' sex festival gets cancelled. Here's what changed its fate

South Korea's 'first-ever'sexfestival was cancelled hours before it was about to get started, as performers backed out fearing that they would be stabbed.

The event, which was called '2024 KFX The Fashion', was organised by 'Play Joker', as per the announcements. The event was organised aboard a ship at Jamwon Hangang Park in Seoul on April 21 and 22.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

The organisers, however, faced pressure from councils and women's groups because of which they had to change the location of the event three times.

The event, which featured Japanese porn stars, cost the head of Play Joker Lee Hee Tae thousands of dollars.

Also Read:South Korea successfully launches second military spy satellite amid race with North Korea

Finally, the organisers decided to host the event in secret at a bar in the Gangnam neighbourhood in Seoul, in their last effort to make the festival happen.

Gangnam council adopts extreme measures to stop sex festival

The council, however, did not budge and took extreme measures to stop the event from happening.

As reported by the BBC, Gangnam council wrote letters to hundreds of restaurants in their neighbourhood and warned them that they would be shut down if they were caught hosting the event, which the council called "morally harmful".

The bar decided not to back out from hosting the event, however, the programme stumbled upon a rock when the Japanese stars of the show pulled out while citing fears of violence, as well as stabbing.

The performers' agency stated that backlash "reached fever pitch".

Speaking to the BBC, Lee said that he failed to believe "such an unthinkable turn" had happened and added that death threats were sent to him.

"I havebeen treatedlike a criminal without doing anything illegal", he added.

He further claimed that the event was not violating any law since there were to be no sexual acts or nudity.

Watch:South Korean environmentalists celebrate Earth Day in Seoul

According to the BBC, the festival was to comprise a bondage fashion show, some adultgames and a sex toy exhibition.

"Virtually every developed country has a sex festival, but here in SouthKoreawe don't even have an adult entertainment culture. I want to take the first steps towards creating one," Lee Hee Tae said.

He added, "The authorities are hypocrites. If you goonlineeveryone is sharing pornography,thenpeople log off and pretend they are innocent. How much longer are we going to keep up this pretence?"

(With inputs from agencies)