“Do not pass through here under any circumstances.”

On August 2, a map accompanied by a warning message was posted on X (formerly Twitter). The post, highlighting an alley near Times Square in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, in yellow, quickly gained attention with about 30 million views. Comments included, “I walked through without knowing anything and got chills,” and “If you walk here, you enter a living hell.”

The area marked on the map is Seoul’s last red-light district. On August 8, a visit was made to this place, which some call a “living hell.” Despite being labeled as a place to avoid at all costs, the area still houses various people including cleaning workers, small business owners, laborers, and sex workers.

Around noon, the “glass-door rooms” on Yeongsin-ro 24-gil in Yeongdeungpo-gu were quiet. Occasionally, office workers holding iced coffee passed by, and the sound of metal-cutting machines echoed from a nearby metal workshop between the glass-door rooms.

A sign on a wall stating “Open after 8 p.m.” caught the eye. As cleaning workers swept the alleys between the glass-door rooms, through an open door, one could see chairs where sex workers sit to solicit customers, high-heeled shoes, pink hair curlers, rice cookers, electric kettles, toothbrushes, and other personal items.

Around 8 p.m., the “opening time,” women began coming out one by one, putting on makeup and fixing their hair as they prepared for “business.” They shared nuts with each other and warmly greeted residents walking their dog. As the street grew dark, passersby glanced quickly at the glass rooms and hurried along.

Sex worker Ms. A said, “We don’t harm anyone, and this is just where people live,” adding, “I know there are prejudices, but we’re human too.” Another sex worker Ms. B said, “I understand why people are scared,” and said, “When teenagers come around, we quickly tell them to leave so they don’t get hurt.”

The sole reason they continue living in what some call a “living hell” is to make a living. Ms. C said she has worked “everything from bars to restaurants to accounting at office,” but could not maintain a livelihood and had to return “here.” She said, “I have no particular skills, I’m in debt, but I have family to support, so I have no choice but to keep coming back.”

Ms. B said, “People say, ‘Do all struggling people do this kind of work?’ That may be true, but everyone’s circumstances are different. I had no parents to rely on, no chance to get back up. At that moment, this was the only choice.” She added, “Of course, I’m not proud of it, but I hope people don’t speak carelessly about someone’s life without knowing the reasons.”

Under the banner of urban renewal, red-light districts around Seoul are rapidly disappearing. In Seongbuk-gu, the “Miari Texas Village,” which once housed around 400 sex establishments in the early 2000s, is now undergoing forced demolition. The glass-door room area in Yeongdeungpo-gu is similar. In 2018, Yeongdeungpo-gu began environmental improvements and designated the area as an urban redevelopment zone near Yeongdeungpo Station in June 2021. As some buildings closed for relocation, the alleys became emptier. Ms. D, an 80-year-old woman who runs a street food cart at the alley entrance every night, lamented, “It used to be crowded, but look how empty it is now,” clicking her tongue. Mr. E, a man in his 60s who has lived in a glass-door room alley for 20 years, said, “Compared to 10 years ago, the number of people has halved,” adding, “We’re just waiting for redevelopment.”

Sex workers want to leave if they can. Ms. C said, “I live with my mother and want to make enough money to move to a quiet rural area in Gyeonggi Province. I’m tired of people.” Ms. B said, “We’ve been pushed around too much in this city,” adding, “Everyone here wants to go somewhere quiet.”

However, leaving this place is not easy for sex workers. During redevelopment, building owners and business operators receive compensation from the redevelopment association, but the women lose both jobs and homes.

Even if red-light districts disappear from the city, prostitution does not vanish. Ms. B said, “Women who leave here get pushed to the provinces and do the same work.” Activist Oh Seung-yoon of the Together Again Counseling Center said, “Just searching ‘female part-time jobs’ on the internet leads easily to entertainment and prostitution recruitment sites,” adding, “As long as the structure allowing sex purchasing persists and business owners profit, it remains hard for women to leave the industry.” The activist added, “Without practical institutional reforms, blocking demand for prostitution and cutting off illegal profit streams of operators, women will inevitably keep entering the industry in other forms.”