[Opinion] The Agency Era

Lee Hyeong-gwon, the 34-year-old president of a divorce procedure agency, got his business idea from the reality that there are so many busy office workers and two-paycheck couples that some say, “You want to get divorced but you cannot because you do not have the time.” For lawsuit-based divorces, people need the help from lawyers, as they will have to face their spouses in the court. For agreement-based divorces, however, all that the couples in question are asked to do is to submit a couple of documents to court. Believing that the business of issuing documents needed for divorce filings from government offices and filling them in for clients would become lucrative, Lee started his business two years ago, and it has been a huge success. Back then, the number of divorce procedure agencies in Korea was only three or four; now there are dozens of such companies nationwide.

From shopping and delivery service to divorce filing form preparation, from pretending to be one’s date to substituting for one’s parents, living agency businesses that carry out everyday chores on behalf of clients are booming in Korea. There are agencies that deliver documents or things that clients left at home or in pubs; these agencies are just like personal secretaries. Some people even ask agencies to cut weeds around their ancestors’ graves back in their hometowns. After all, it might be fair to say that private education is a sort of agency business in that the education of children, which has traditionally been the responsibility of parents and schools, is now being conducted by those in the private education industry.

The so-called “role-playing” agency business even appeared in the widely popular TV drama, “Infamous Seven Princesses.” Substituting for one’s date or wedding guests is only the basic of the basics. Some students, who made serious mistakes that they do not want their parents to know, even bring “substitute parents” to school. It seems that there is no limit to agency businesses; we are living in an “era of the agency” in which the phrase of the minute, “Nothing is impossible!” feels so real.

In Korea, single households accounted for 15.5 percent of all households in 2000, but the figure increased to 20 percent in 2005. This is another reason why the agency market is getting larger. In terms of effective utilization of time, agency businesses are also about time management. It may be wise to turn to these agencies to save time and money. It is deplorable, however, to see people ask agencies to carry out even the weed-cutting and other things that they themselves should do in a sincere manner, as it seems that these people believe that everything can be bought with money.

Kwon Soon-taek, Editorial Writer, maypole@donga.com