Korea

Since learning that we will be moving to South Korea in February 2010, news articles focusing on Korea have peaked my interest.  Of course, the flare-up in rhetoric over the summer caught my eye.  But, I have been more interested in articles that discuss life and culture in South Korea.  Below are several recent articles I have read detailing various aspects of South Korean life.

Korean Weddings

My mom sent me this recent article in the NY Times, titled, “Rethinking Weddings That Come With Cashiers.”  Apparently, upon entering a Korean wedding, guests traditionally line up to give cash offerings to a cashier.  Each gift is then registered and stored in a velvet-covered ledger.  Recently, however, the practice has been criticized as an avenue for bribery or vote-buying.

“This is a ‘you-help-me, I-help-you’ tradition,” said Han Seung-ho, 33, a photographer whose wedding in October attracted 370 guests. “I don’t see anything wrong with it. You chip in and you get help in return. Without their cash gifts, my wedding would have been a serious financial burden for me.”

Another aspect of Korean culture that is new to me (and will be good to be aware of should we ever be invited to a wedding there!).

Single Mothers in Korea

This NY Times article highlights the stigma against single mothers in South Korea.  The woman featured in the article, Ms. Choi, was ostracized by her family for deciding to carry her baby to term as an unwed mother.  The article details the horrible treatment that unwed mothers face in Korea.  “Once you become an unwed mom, you’re branded as immoral and a failure. People treat you as if you had committed a crime. You fall to the bottom rung of society.”

• In 2007, 7,774 babies were born out of wedlock in South Korea, 1.6 percent of all births.  (This figure is closer to 40% in the U.S.)
• Nearly 96 percent of unwed pregnant women in South Korea choose abortion.
• Of unmarried women who give birth, about 70 percent are believed to give up their babies for adoption, according to a government-financed survey.
• 90% of the South Korean children adopted abroad last year were born to unmarried women.

Choi and other women in her situation are trying to set up the country’s first unwed mothers association to defend their right to raise their own children.

“The fledgling group of women — only 40 are involved so far — is striking at one of the great ironies of South Korea. The government and commentators fret over the country’s birthrate, one of the world’s lowest, and deplore South Korea’s international reputation as a baby exporter for foreign adoptions.  Yet each year, social pressure drives thousands of unmarried women to choose between abortion, which is illegal but rampant, and adoption, which is considered socially shameful but is encouraged by the government. The few women who decide to raise a child alone risk a life of poverty and disgrace.”

This article was shocking to me.  I understood that Korean culture was very traditional, but I had no idea about the extent of discrimination facing single mothers.  The article also made me think of adoption in a different light.

North Korea

This New Yorker article broke my heart.  It tells the story of a woman who struggles to survive the famine in North Korea during the nineteen-nineties.

(Unfortunately, I think you have to subscribe to the New Yorker in order to view the digital edition of the article).

Museums

Finally, an LA Times article on the Seoul Museum of Chicken Art!  We will be sure to take my dad, a proud owner of chickens, for a visit when he comes to Seoul.