How in the 70s in Korea they caught girls in miniskirts, cut long-haired guys and who was put in a “cage of shame” (9 photos)

It would seem that life is so short, live for your own pleasure and do not waste time on negativity and vanity. But no, for some reason, some people always want to control others. And if controllers have power and authority, then it’s not easy for those who receive orders. You have to follow rules that seem absurd years later.





Photo: public domain. Collage: "Visual".

Why am I saying all this? I recently came across a photograph taken in 1976 in Gyeonggi Province in South Korea. Several men and women stood with drooping heads in a cramped makeshift “cage” made of low fences. There were police nearby, several bicycles and a moped. I began to find out what was happening, found a lot more pictures and realized that I would not want to live in South Korea in the 70s of the 20th century.



Photo (hereafter): South Korean press/public domain.



The offenders felt very awkward in the “cage of shame.”

Today, Koreans are famous for their cheerful youth pop groups, colorful outfits and fantastic fashion. During the presidency (or it would be more correct to say dictatorship) of Park Chung-hee, miniskirts and long hair for men were officially banned in the country. The permissible length of strands was not specified in the law. The police determined by eye: if a man can be confused with a lady because of his hairstyle, then the guy needs to be taken to the police station and forcibly cut his hair. In 1973 alone, more than 12 thousand young people had their hair cut.



The verdict was made by eye.



It's about the same with miniskirts. There, however, the violation was specified - if the skirt starts 17 centimeters above the knee, then the lady goes to the police station and changes into a decent outfit there. Imagine, you went out for a walk, and an outfit comes up to you, a law enforcement officer takes out a tape measure and takes measurements: “15 centimeters! Sorry for disturbing you, citizen, you can go." The mood after this probably wouldn't be so great.



And finally, I’ll explain the pictures with people behind the fence. These are pedestrians who allowed themselves to cross the street in the wrong place. The police caught the scoundrels and threw them into the “cage of shame” for half an hour - like they used to put kids in a corner (now, I hope, no one does?). Passers-by had to express their censure to them. Cyclists who rode in the wrong place were also thrown behind the fence.





A still from a Korean television series about days gone by.

At the end of 1979, President Park Chung-hee was slapped by the head of the country's main intelligence agency. Soon the police stopped measuring the length of skirts, cutting long-haired young men's hair, and shaming pedestrian violators. All this is now part of the history of South Korea, which now sometimes even appears humorously in advertising.



On the right is a still from a South Korean advertisement released by Samsung in 2007.

Do you think there was a rational grain in the strict Korean measures or is it all too much?