“They Said There Would Be No More Company Dinners”... Yet More Than 300 Billion Won Was Charged at Room Salons Alone on Corporate Cards

[Financial News] Corporate-card spending at adult entertainment establishments exceeded 500 billion won last year. Critics say business-entertainment spending practices remain widespread despite the declining culture of company dinners.
According to Yonhap News Agency on the 9th, data obtained by Moon Jin-seok, a lawmaker of the Democratic Party of Korea and a member of the National Assembly Planning and Finance Committee, from the National Tax Service (NTS), the Credit Finance Association and other sources showed that corporate-card spending at adult entertainment establishments totaled 551.6 billion won last year. This amounted to about 0.3% of total corporate-card spending, which stood at 204.6606 trillion won last year.
Corporate-card spending at adult entertainment establishments totaled nearly 3 trillion won over the past six years.
By year, corporate-card spending at adult entertainment establishments fell sharply from 439.8 billion won in 2020 to 212 billion won in 2021. It then rose to 563.8 billion won in 2022 and 624.4 billion won in 2023, before declining for two consecutive years to 596.2 billion won in 2024 and 551.6 billion won in 2025.
By business category, room salons accounted for the largest share of corporate-card spending last year, at 302.6 billion won. They were followed by danran pubs at 117.3 billion won, theater-style restaurants—entertainment venues where customers can watch shows or performances—at 48.8 billion won, nightclubs at 14.7 billion won, and other adult entertainment establishments at 68.2 billion won.
Corporate-card spending at golf courses totaled 1.9726 trillion won last year, down 4.2% from the previous year. However, it has remained around 2 trillion won annually since 2021. Some of the corporate-card spending at golf courses is presumed to have been related to business entertainment.
Moon said, “The fact that more than half of the corporate-card spending at adult entertainment establishments was at room salons means that business-entertainment spending practices still persist.” He urged, “Tax authorities should continue monitoring how corporate cards are used at adult entertainment establishments.”
[email protected] Kim Su-yeon Reporter