110,000 condoms for Winter Olympics pushes topic of sex in South Korea

SEOUL, South Korea — As athletes gear up for the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, they'll find some serious protection: condoms, and plenty of them.

South Korean condom manufacturer Convenience Co. is donating 100,000 of its latex rubbers to the athletes' village, while the Korean Association for AIDS Prevention will reportedly furnish another 10,000. It will be the most ever made available at a Winter Games, although the number falls short of the 450,000 distributed during the larger 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.

While there's been some movement for South Koreans to start talking about a sexual revolution — in part because of the widespread use of social media — some observers are hoping the attention given to condom use at these games will get the socially conservative country to begin shedding its inhibitions.

Image: Condom
Convenience Co. is providing condoms at the PyeongChang Olympics. One of the brands is called 'Right Idea.' Convenience Co.
"It is a great time to seize this opportunity to start having open discussion," said Hyeouk Chris Hahm, a Boston University professor who has researched sexual attitudes among South Korean adolescents.

In recent decades, nearly half of the nation's youth have reported engaging in sexual encounters in their teens — in some cases eschewing the expectation to be abstinent before marriage, according to a 2016 report in the Journal of Social Service Research, co-authored by Hahm.

"Although adolescents are initiating sex at an earlier age, this review indicated that their sexual knowledge is poor," the report found, "putting them at high risk of unhealthy sexual activities and (sexually transmitted infection) acquisition."

But even in a major city such as Seoul, ads in the subways routinely push plastic surgery and weight loss products, but notably absent are any addressing STD prevention, for instance.

Related: Sexually transmitted disease cases hit new high in U.S.

Hahm said there remains a stigma in Korean society about openly talking about safe sex and birth control.

"South Korea has one of the lowest fertility rates, and yet, South Korea has one of the highest abortion rates in the world," she added.

Abortions in South Korea are allowed under extremely strict circumstances, such as rape or if a woman's health is at risk. Women who have an illegal abortion can be punished with up to one year in prison or fines of about $1,820, according to Human Rights Watch.

"It is common for them to abort the pregnancy because of shame of being a young single mother, family rejection and very little societal support system for them," Hahm said.

But some advocates want laws to be loosened in order to protect women. An online petition with more than 230,000 signatures was submitted to the president's office last fall calling for the full legalization of abortions.