A Russian Babe on a Big Bike Rides Through a Nuclear Wasteland
This site presents a series of haunting and disturbing pictures taken by Biker-chick, Elena, on her several rides through the ghost towns created by the Chernobyl accident. Click here to join Elena on her rides.
The 9-11 Commission Hearings are available for download at Audible.com. The audio downloads are free and a free listening application is required. There is also a mediaplayer plugin available. Click here to go to the Audible page.
Korea-related Security Alert From the US Embassy’s Warden System:
The U.S. Embassy is transmitting the following information through the Embassy’s warden system as a public service to all U.S. citizens in the Republic of Korea. Please disseminate this message to U.S. citizens in your organizations.
According to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on Saturday, March 27, at 7:00 p.m. two demonstrations are planned in the Kwangwhamun area. A pro-impeachment rally drawing up to 10,000 participants will be held at the corner of the Dong-A Duty Free Building at the corner of Semunan-gil and Taepyungro-1ga (one block south of the Embassy). An anti-impeachment protest is scheduled during the same time at the Kyobo Building (one block south the Embassy) with up to 50,000 people taking part.
On Sunday, March 28, at 5:00 p.m. up to 20,000 supporters of impeachment will gather at the Dong-A Duty Free Building. At 7:00 p.m. 500 opponents of impeachment will hold their nightly assembly at the Kyobo building.
On Saturday, police will deploy a total of 40 companies (approximately 4,500 police) in the Kwangwhamun area to maintain order. Starting at 5:00 p.m. police plan to surround the Embassy with buses and riot police. At the time this notice was prepared, police had not made a decision regarding surrounding the Embassy with buses for Sunday’s demonstrations.
Political, labor, and student demonstrations and marches have on occasion become confrontational and/or violent. American citizens should exercise caution and avoid gatherings of large groups in order to minimize risk to their personal safety. Police will close roads to vehicle traffic as necessary.
The U.S. Embassy in Seoul will continue to keep the U.S. community informed of any changes in the overall security situation. To hear a recording of the most up-to-date security information affecting U.S. citizens in Korea, please call 02-397-4114 and press the following series of numbers: 1, 1, 1, 7. In addition, notices concerning security matters will also be broadcast on AFNK television and radio. The Embassy encourages all U.S. citizens to register their presence in Korea with the American Citizens Services office at the U.S. Embassy or via the Internet at http://www.usembassy.state.gov/seoul or http://www.asktheconsul.org/.
Latest from the US Embassy after the assassination of Saruman
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
WORLDWIDE CAUTION
March 23, 2004
This Worldwide Caution Public Announcement is being updated to
alert U.S. citizens of the heightened threat of terrorist attacks
against U.S. citizens and interests following the killing of Sheikh
Yassin in Gaza . This supersedes the Worldwide Caution dated
March 19, 2004, and expires on September 23, 2004.
The Department of State is deeply concerned about the heightened
threat of terrorist attacks against U.S. citizens and interests
abroad in the aftermath of the recent killing of HAMAS leader
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in Gaza. The Department is also concerned
about the potential for demonstrations and violent actions against
U.S. citizens and interests overseas as a response to the killing.
A HAMAS spokesman has threatened revenge and specifically identified
American interests as targets. U.S. citizens are reminded to
maintain a high level of vigilance and to take appropriate steps
to increase their security awareness.
The Department of State remains concerned by indications that
al-Qaida continues to prepare to strike U.S. interests abroad.
Al-Qaida and its associated organizations have most recently struck
in the Middle East and in Europe but other geographic locations
could also be venues for attacks. Future al-Qaida attacks could
possibly involve non-conventional weapons such as chemical or
biological agents as well as conventional weapons of terror.
We also cannot rule out that al-Qaida will attempt a catastrophic
attack within the U.S.
Terrorist actions may include, but are not limited to, suicide
operations, hijackings, bombings or kidnappings. These may involve
aviation and other transportation and maritime interests, and may
also include conventional weapons, such as explosive devices.
Terrorists do not distinguish between official and civilian targets.
These may include facilities where U.S. citizens and other
foreigners congregate or visit, including residential areas, clubs,
restaurants, places of worship, schools, hotels and public areas.
U.S. citizens are encouraged to maintain a high level of vigilance
and to take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness.
U.S. Government facilities worldwide remain at a heightened state
of alert. These facilities may temporarily close or suspend public
services from time to time to assess their security posture.
In those instances, U.S. embassies and consulates will make every
effort to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens. Americans
abroad are urged to monitor the local news and maintain contact with
the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate.
As the Department continues to develop information on any potential
security threats to U.S. citizens overseas, it shares credible threat
information through its consular information program documents,
available on the Internet at http://travel.state.gov. In addition
to information on the Internet, travelers may obtain up-to-date
information on security conditions by calling 1-888-407-4747
toll-free in the U.S. or outside the U.S. and Canada on a regular
toll line at 1-317-472-2328.
The U.S. Embassy in Seoul will continue to keep the U.S. community informed of any changes in the overall security situation. To hear a recording of the most up-to-date security information affecting U.S. citizens in Korea, please call 02-397-4114 and press the following series of numbers: 1, 1, 1, 7. In addition, notices concerning security matters will also be broadcast on AFNK television and radio. The Embassy encourages all U.S. citizens to register their presence in Korea with the American Citizens Services office at the U.S. Embassy or via the Internet at or
This picture is relevant and funny to possibly only one or two people in the universe, so I will not comment on it or get into any more detail than to say that “fondue night” was a night to remember.
I never cease being amazed that, even years later, the most insignificant event in US sports history is still one of the biggest deals ever in the history of Korean sports.
Security Update From US Embassy Seoul, Korea
WORLDWIDE CAUTION
March 19, 2004
This supersedes the Worldwide Caution dated January 9, 2004. It is being issued to remind U.S. citizens of the continuing threat of terrorist attacks. This Worldwide Caution expires on September 19, 2004.
The U.S. Government remains deeply concerned about the security of U.S. citizens overseas. U.S. citizens are cautioned to maintain a high level of vigilance, to remain alert and to take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness. We are seeing indications that Al-Qaida continues to prepare to strike U.S. interests abroad.
Al-Qaida and its associated organizations have most recently struck in the Middle East and in Europe but other geographic locations could also be venues for attacks. Future Al-Qaida attacks could possibly involve non-conventional weapons such as chemical or biological agents as well as conventional weapons of terror. We also cannot rule out that Al-Qaida will attempt a catastrophic attack within the U.S.
Terrorist actions may include, but are not limited to, suicide operations, hijackings, bombings or kidnappings. These may involve aviation and other transportation and maritime interests, and may also include conventional weapons, such as explosive devices. Terrorists do not distinguish between official and civilian targets. These may include facilities where U.S. citizens and other foreigners congregate or visit, including residential areas, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, schools, hotels and public areas. U.S. citizens are encouraged to maintain a high level of vigilance and to take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness.
U.S. Government facilities worldwide remain at a heightened state of alert. These facilities may temporarily close or suspend public services from time to time to assess their security posture. In those instances, U.S. embassies and consulates will make every effort to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens. Americans abroad are urged to monitor the local news and maintain contact with the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate.
As the Department continues to develop information on any potential security threats to U.S. citizens overseas, it shares credible threat information through its consular information program documents, available on the Internet at http://travel.state.gov. In addition to information on the Internet, travelers may obtain up-to-date information on security conditions by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll-free in the U.S. or outside the U.S. and Canada on a regular toll line at 1-317-472-2328.
The U.S. Embassy in Seoul will continue to keep the U.S. community informed of any changes in the overall security situation. To hear a recording of the most up-to-date security information affecting U.S. citizens in Korea, please call 02-397-4114 and press the following series of numbers: 1, 1, 1, 7. In addition, notices concerning security matters will also be broadcast on AFNK television and radio. The Embassy encourages all U.S. citizens to register their presence in Korea with the American Citizens Services office at the U.S. Embassy or via the Internet at or
LATEST UPDATE: As of 7:00 pm, approximately 150,000 people had gathered. by 8:20, the crowed was estimated at 200,000 strong.
The idea of a peaceful rally, a non-violent demonstration, or civil protest is a very new think in Korea. It is only in the last several years that marching down the street, signing songs, and sitting in the middle of the street has replaced running down the streest, martial chants, and tearing up the streets and thowing the broken pieces of the street at policemen along with firebombs. Traditionally, large groups of people and large groups of policemen have been a very bad mix. However, in recent years, the violence had died down and people were finding more creative ways to protest in a non-violent way.
All of the warm fuzzies and non-violence suddenly went out the window last year the the very violent demonstrations against the Chilean Free Trade Agreement and against locating a nuclear waste dump in Buan. Those were minor disturbances compared to what could result from this impeachment. Public sentiment seems to be largely against the impeachment, regardless of whether it was lawful or not. Koreans have a long history of rising up quite violently against political oppression and rejection of public opinion. Many people are already comparing the struggle against the impeachment of President Roh to other past struggles against authoritarian and military dictatorships and oppression.
People began holding public demonstrations and candlelight vigils protesting the impeachment. However, once the rallys reached huge proportions, they were declared illegal. One thing that Koreans do not like is to have there political freedoms, particularly their freedom of political speech curtailed. I was relieved to see that the reaction of the huge crowds of people congregating each night backed by more than 200 NGO goups did not immediately turn to violence. The organizers creatively used the legal loophole allowing cultural demonstrations and continued holding the rallies under the pretext of being cultural events.
It took exactly one day for the crafty policemen to realize that it was simply a case of a rose by another name smelling just as sweet. The rallies were again declared illegal on the grounds that they were not really cultural events. The authorities then came out and began threatening to take criminal actions against the organizers and others participating in the illegal rallies and insisting that the law will be followed.
In defiance of the threats, some 2,000 people took to the streets last night to continue the anti-impeachment rallies. Despite continued threats from the government, the rallies are planned to continue.
Tonight, organizers and pundits are estimating that up to 1,000,000 people across the country will participate in rallies tonight in major cities. Conservative estimates put the number to participate in a rally in Seoul at 100,000. Other, more liberal estimates put the expected crowd in Seoul at around 300,000 people. That is a huge, unstable powder keg. It is currently harmless, but it has immeasurable destructive potential, and it only takes one spark. That spark: 9,000 policemen at the Seoul rally.
Tonight and tomorrow are major milestones in the direction that the protests and anti-impeachment effots go. If there is peace this weekend, I think there will be peace until the Constitutional Court renders its decision. If there is violence tonight, it will continue to get worse, and I don’t know where it will end.
Unfortunately, I think its going to get ugly.
In this article which was linked from Californian Sojourn’s site, I was struck by the following picture:
Yeah, so the white people have big noses, but at least they look civilized. White people also have opinions about the impeachment. Black people are uncivilized, loin cloth-wearing ignorant spear-chuckers without a single coherent thought in their afro-ed head.
Why on earth was the picture drawn that way? I don’t have a clue. The only answer I can come up with is that particular blend of ignorance and racism that is everywhere in Korean society. Completely uncalled for, this kind of crap is everywhere in Korean society.
Old School expats may remember the “Black Joe” candy bar that had a blackface character on the package. African dolls with leopard skin togas, giant afros, spears and bones through their noses.
More recently we have singing sensation, The Bubble Sisters, whose make up was completely inexcusable and whose rationale and explanation for it is quite shocking.
From a recent Mingi’s Jibber Jabber post
However, today, I heard some shit on YTN sports news that made my miniscule eyes grow into sizes I never knew were possible. A YTN anchor was providing a summary of world sports, mostly focusing on soccer. In one of the summarized games, a Brazilian player playing on a South Korean professional team happened to jump over an attempted tackle in the penalty box, afforded to maintain possession, and ended up scoring an acrobatic goal. To this, the YTN anchor said, “the Brazilian player exhibited typical athletic tendencies of a black man by showing his unmatched flexibility and strength.”
Why? Who knows. Koreans’ irrational prejudice against blacks is nothing new. In 1991, rapper Ice Cube wrote a song about Korean racism against blacks. The song was inspired by an incident where a Korean store owner shot and killed a black teenage girl that she suspected of shoplifting. Click here for the rather graphic rap lyrics.
No comment is really needed about this. It is not cool. Knock it off!
Here is a message received from the US Embassy - Seoul. Foreigners throughout Seoul should take note.
The U.S. Embassy is transmitting the following information through the Embassy’s warden system as a public service to all U.S. citizens in the Republic of Korea. Please disseminate this message to U.S. citizens in your organizations.
An alliance of several hundred civic and student activist groups declared that they plan to organize candlelight vigil protests every night in Seoul and other cities until the parliamentary impeachment vote is rescinded. Korean police authorities advised the Embassy that large-scale demonstrations drawing thousands of people would continue until the scheduled April 15th National Assembly elections. Korean police further advised that demonstrations are planned each evening at 7:00 p.m. at the Kyobo building, near the U.S. Embassy. This past weekend tens of thousands of people demonstrated against the impeachment in Seoul at Yoido and Kwanghwamun (near the U.S. Embassy) and thousands demonstrated in Pusan, Kwangju and Chunchon.
In addition, on Saturday, March 20, two large-scale demonstrations are planned in Seoul. An anti-war demonstration protesting Korean troops being sent to Iraq is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. at Marronnier Park, near Korea National Open University, and an anti-impeachment rally will take place at 7:00 p.m. at the Kyobo building, near the U.S. Embassy.
Political, labor, and student demonstrations and marches have on occasion become confrontational and/or violent. American citizens should exercise caution and avoid gatherings of large groups in order to minimize risk to their personal safety.
The U.S. Embassy in Seoul will continue to keep the U.S. community informed of any changes in the overall security situation. To hear a recording of the most up-to-date security information affecting U.S. citizens in Korea, please call 02-397-4114 and press the following series of numbers: 1, 1, 1, 7. In addition, notices concerning security matters will also be broadcast on AFNK television and radio. The Embassy encourages all U.S. citizens to register their presence in Korea with the American Citizens Services office at the U.S. Embassy or via the Internet at http://www.usembassy.state.gov/seoul or http://www.asktheconsul.org/.
While I rebuild my blog and get it up and running on this new server, the world continues to turn. Marmot has posted news and brilliant insights relating to the impeachment of President Roh and its likely effect on society. I would direct you there to keep abreast of the latest impeachment issues.
It is Official. My time with the buffoons and bumbling monkeys at Blog-City is at an end. I hereby declare them non compus mentis. I suppose it will take a while to get things worked out between my blog-city and Typepad accounts. Please stay tuned as I make the transition in these difficult times.
Latest Developments: Impeachment protests turn ugly! as thousands rally. 14,000 attend rally at legislature, police thwart two attempted self-immolations, 55-year old in serious condition after setting himself alight
BREAKING NEWS!!!!!
Impeachment motion passes by a margin of 193-2 arising from corruption claims! Only opposition party members participated in the vote. President Roh Moo-hyun is suspended and relieved of his duties. His fate lies in the constitutional court.
This is absolutely HUGE news. Prime Minster Goh Kun has taken temporary control of the government until the constitutional court deals with the impeachment. Prime Minister Goh is currently in an emergency meeting with security-related ministers.
UPDATE: Korean financial market in free-fall after impeachment news. Stock market crashing, currency exchage rates fall to the point the government has stepped in to prevent further fall. State bond yields falling.
UPDATE: 47 lawmakers resign as a result of the impeachment vote.
UPDATE: Former Daewoo Construction head commits suicide yesterday after being singled out for attempted bribes during Pres. Roh’s press conference yesterday. He was previously charged with passing KRW 30 million to Roh’s older brother in a request that he be reappointed as the head of Daewoo Construction last September.
UPDATE: All police forces nationwide put on high alert to deal with "any accidents or event" occuring in the high-strung atmosphere as the nation is in utter shock at the impeachment of President Roh. Impeachment called "darkest day in the nation’s history."
UPDATE: Violence on the horizon? 220 civic groups delare "disobedience against impeachment" saying that we can no longer bear a democracy-oppressing parliament.
UPDATE: Korea and US forces to hold emergency meeting to discuss security and defense issues
DEVELOPING…..
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308536
2004-03-12T07:00+00:00
A visitor
The brawl confirmed my conviction that Korea is an un-staffed insane asylum.
Silly Sally
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308571
2004-03-12T07:56+00:00
A visitor
sally, you are correct.. korea is quite a strange country indeed… no other country like it..
smurn
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309257
2004-03-14T10:13+00:00
A visitor
My agent-provocateur and most useful idiot (Roh Myeon) executed an exquisite coup. In his press conference before the impeachment vote he spoke comtemptuously in rude gangsterish Korean saying he owed no-one an apology. This slap in the face to the Grand National Assembly was designed by me and Roh to incite an impeachment frenzy. The Uri team co-operated with Roh in creating a necessary circus designed to villify the Grand National Assembly as heavy-handed before the Korean people. Roh now has the sympathy of the famously emotional and irrational Koreans rubbing Kimchee over their naked bodies in an orgy of anti-authoritarianism: an environment previously fomented by Roh. My gamble is Roh will not be impeached for lack of “substantial violations” and re-instated as a Korean emperor fully backed by all Koreans. My useful idiot will be very instrumental for the coming showdown. Mu ha ha ha!
Kim Jung Il
MASSIVE KOREA BLOG ROUNDUP
The extent of the fallout from being offline for essentially a full week due to Blog-city’s incomprehensibly long site overhaul is now beginning to be recognized. My visits have dropped off by 50% from pre-overhaul numbers. I’m still alive. I’m undertaking this massive round up of other Korean blogs in the hopes that they will see it in their cold, flinty-black souls to send some reciprocal love back my way.
The Blogs:
Big Hominid (not for the weak of heart or humor deficient, but that’s why we love him): He stopped talking about various orifices and stopped drawing genetalia and senators corrupting the morals of sheep long enough to wax philosophic on relgion and the relationship between noumena and phenomena. Fortunately for me, I haven’t the energy to take issue with him. Once these musings were out of his system, Mr. Hyde resumed his position as dominant personality within the Big Ho and the world was put aright once more.
California Sojour: Our US-based Koreaphile recently pointed out that "The Passion" has made over USD 212 ,and there has yet to be a single incident of violence against Jews because of the film.
Cathartidea: Owner of a great boardgame cafe (that everyone should go to) located near Hongik University, admits in public that he may believe some of the same things that President Bush believes. How is it that someone so smart can be so politically wrong?
Drambuiman: Owner of a great bar and eatery (that everyone should go to) located near Hongik University, gives us his cynical view of a course of action to end all political corruption in Korea.
Flying Yangban: Takes a brave and nearly unprecedented step amongst Korean blogs by saying not one, but TWO good things about Korea.
Hunjangûi karûch’im: a Ph.D candidate writing an anthropology thesis on keepers of small shops, continues to give us some very interesting, insightful, and academic articles on Korea and things Korean.
Incestuous Amplification: Calling it quits after 6 years and returning home. He promises to unchain the dogs of war in future posts.
Kamelian Xrays: Usually very serious and politically oriented, sends us on a quest to find out which civil war general we are most like.
Kathreb: The queen mother of Korean blogging women suggests that Korea may benefit from a few executions.
Budaechigae (a.k.a. Kimchi GI) : Points us to some military babes that are party of this years Korean Military Academy graduating class. Not quite up to NK cheerleader status, but working on it locally.
Korea Life: Have camera, will travel. New pictures of drawings made by his potentially homicidal students.
It Makes a Difference to the Sheep: Talks about the recent death threat against a top-ranking NK defector and speculates on the people behind the threats.
The Marmot’s Hole: Widely regarded as the first name in Korea-related blogging, always has something worth reading.
Mingi’s Jibber Jabber: Seems to have lost his mojo as of late. However, he recently posted a shocking (or is it?) post about a news broadcast that referenced the "typical athletic tendencies of a black man."
My Resonating Life: Native Korean blogger babe Jae, is struck by several muses and goddesses as she contemplates the nature of love in lyric and prose.
Neil Barker’s Seoul: Seems to have run into the same trumpeting cowboy Christian crusaders that I bumped into a while back.
Northeast-Asian: Another native Korean bloggeress gives us some info on the new US Ambassador to Korea as well as some info on the North Korean defector trying to stay in Canada.
Partypooper: Fisks a Korean NGO site that claims, among other things that the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup led peace-loving people to reject the choice of war as policy and theory of pro-security and voice their concerns.
Rathbone Press: Points out that Roh’s 1/10′th pledge regarding illegal campaign funds and leaving office may not have been that serious after all….big shock.
Travelitch: Some people have different standards for determining if and when they "have arrived". For some, success and intergration into the upper echelons of society is determined by when they buy their first house. For some it is when the purchase their first German sport car. For me, it is painting. To me, nothing says "I have been to the mountain top. I have arrived" quite like commissioning your first painting from a serious artist. This last week, I sat down to dinner and conversation with Elizabeth from Travelitch and hammered out the details of my first commissioned painting that will hang on the wall behind my office desk. Visit her site to see her list of those questions that everyone one of us in Korea get asked every single day.
The Laughing Linden Branch: A heavily religion-oriented site has moved to a new address.
Oranckay:Digs deeper into the President Roh impeachment process and invites all to play "The Great Find the Election Law Violation Contest."
"She’s got looks that kill!
She’s got looks that kill!"
- Motley Crue
I have had several discussions over the past week or so, mostly with Jae from My Resonating Life, regarding women and beauty. What is beauty? How do women see themselves? Why have cosmetic surgery? What are the pressures that society puts on women?
Given that I am a man, I don’t understand a lot about these issues. However, I do know what I see, and I see some disturbing things here in korea that I thought would improve, but which have only gotten worse. To be honest, it distresses me.
When I first set foot on Korean soil back in 1988, one of the first observations I made was that women here wore entirely too much makeup. I speculated that garden trowls must sell well here because it seemed that every girl had one with which to apply her makeup. I thought it strange because it seemed that some very pretty women making themselves uglier in a misguided effort to make themselves prettier.
I have asked girls, in my own special sensitive way, why they wear so much make up. One of the surprising answers has been that they have a bad complexion so they need to wear makeup to cover these imperfections. I have an idea. How about not clogging your pores with all of that goop?
Makeup use has not diminished since then. In fact, the situation has worsened as more and better products have become available. As more and more money is thrown at marketing beauty through television, movies, magazines, etc., this quest for beauty has so taken the minds of Korean men and women that women are turning in droves to hacking, slashing, stuffing, and sucking their faces and bodies to conform to what marketers have convinced Korean women and men is beautiful.
The lengths to which women here will go to in order to seek beauty through surgery has become so extreme that it is now costing people their lives. My thoughts and discussions were prompted by the death of a 25-year old woman here in Pusan a couple of weeks ago. The story finaly hit the English-language news in this article in the Korean Herald.
In her six-page suicide note, the unidentified pharmacy major said she always wanted to be beautiful. However, she explained, her last hope to attain the look she wanted failed with an unsuccessful plastic surgery.
Here is a young woman who felt so bad about the way she looked that she turned to a knife in order to make herself look more like something that someone has convinced her she should look like. When the surgery failed to make her look perfect, when the knife failed to give her self-esteem she did a Peter Pan out the 13th floor of her building.
How widespread is the problem of low self-esteem and dissatisfaction with looks among Korean women?
Marie France, a well-known beauty clinic based in England, released a survey on the weekend that suggested almost 79 per cent of Korean females who responded are not satisfied with their appearances.
One 26 year old woman said:
"If I had a lot of money, I would go for cosmetic surgery. I think a pretty face gains you more attention in modern society. Why is it so bad that you want nice face?"
I was stunned by the completely screwed up view of herself, but I am told that a huge number of Korean women think that way. My question to her is, "What is so wrong with your face?" It is truly gut-wrenching to see a very nice looking, healthy woman who think she needs bigger eyes, smaller cheeks, bigger chin, more chiseled nose, etc. What is wrong with they way you look?!?
Personally, nothing makes me cringe like seeing a Korean women with unnaturally large, unnaturally round eyes who reveals shiny scars across her eyelids every time she blinks. The women generally are unaware of the obviousness of the scaring because they can’t see themselves with their eyes closed.
Also, there are very few things more aesthetically displeasing that a woman with breasts that are unnaturally larger than they should be. Just a note, breasts are supposed to move when you run and they are not supposed to stand straight up when you lay on your back. Breast implants are supposedly designed to make people appreciate a woman’s beauty, but to me, as with eye surgery, I mostly notice that something just doesn’t look right and I am slightly uneasy until I discover what it is. Breast implants, if you are so vain as to want them, should be an enhancement, not a distraction.
This addiction to appearance is not new to Korean society as many women have sought plastic surgery since the early 1990s. However, it seems to be getting more serious as something called the "eoljjang syndrome" has found its way into the nation’s vocabulary. Eoljjang is slang, meaning pretty face in English.
Eoljjang cam about through a bunch of Korean girls throwing to gether a "hot or not" sort of website.
From the original slang, a second new word has emerged. "Momjjang" is now the pop term for those judged to have good body shapes.
This fixation on looks has increased to the point where bad people are being idolized simply because they are cute.
A fan site for an attractive female bank burglar was recently organized. Regardless of evidence against her, some believed she was too pretty to have committed such crimes.
Beauty stereotypes are thrown at Korean women from all sides. The girls are raised and molded under the influence of these stereotypes. Boyfriends will tell their already rail-thin girlfriends that she needs to lose weight. Women are just merciless to each other. Magazines are full of unrealistically beautiful women. You can’t turn the TV on without seeing at least four or five channels pitching diet products. There are always four or five channels seeling underwear or lingerie, but the underwear is being modeled by foreign women, not Korean women.
Because of this you have Korean women who are turning more and more to anorexia, bulemia, laxitives and other eating disorders and medication as they try desperately to make themselves ridiculously thin. At the same time, they are trying to develop a body to fill the underwear modeled by the foriegners. You simply cannot do both.
You can’t look like Olive Oyl and a Victoria’s Secret model at the same time!
Not only are people, male and female continually told what they need to look like, how beautiful they need to be, and so forth, Korean TV goes a step further. Korean TV incessantly and mercilously makes fun of and blasts people that look normal. Thus, if you are a normal-looking person and see a normal looking person on TV, you are made to feel worse as people savage the normal-looking person and degrade them.
Kim Hee-jin, a professor of mass communication at Yonsei University, agrees.
Some shows feature guests who make fun of other participants for perceived flaws in their appearances.
"If they do not stop these behaviors, it may have a bad influence on young audiences," Nah said, adding strong regulations for such TV programs are necessary.
This is true. But I think it is a cycle…Society is like that, so TV does it, so society does it. Got a pimple? rest assured some Korean will come up to you, point at it and say very loudly "WOW!!! You have an enormous zit on your face!" God forbid you are even slightly overweight. You will never hear the end of it.
"Serious complexes and morbid addiction to beauty are a kind of mental disease," Miso Clinic psychiatrist Oh Dong-jae said. "If you keep living with these complexes, you may develop depression.
"Though you don’t have a pretty face, you may have a lot of other abilities. You must find them out and develop them. You must know facial beauty is not the most important thing in your life."
I think this psychiatrist has made an error. Who wants to hear, "You are ugly, but you can still do stuff." Wouldn’t women be much better off if they were taught to be happy and satisfied with with they way they look. Most girls and Korean women do not realize that the women in those magazines have every last flaw and blemish meticulously air-brushed and digitally edited away. You can’t do that to a real person. The proper view should be that even though you don’t look like this artificial creation in a magazine or on TV, you are still a beautiful person.
The most extreme example of this "beauty at all costs" mindset is that larger and larger numbers of people are turning to osteogenetic surgery…or limb-lengthening procedures… Here is a Taipei Times article with a fairly good description of that procedure
Kong Jing-wen has paid ?5,700 (US$10,075) to have both of her legs broken and stretched on a rack. The pretty college graduate is now lying in bed, clearly still in considerable pain three days after a doctor sawed through the flesh and bone below her knee to insert what looks an awful lot like knitting needles through the length of her tibiae. . . .
These giant steel pins are connected by eight screws punched horizontally through her ankle and calf to a steel cage surrounding each leg. Once the bone starts to heal, these cages will act like a medieval torture device — each day over the next few months Kong will turn the screws a fraction and stretch her limbs more and more until she has grown by 8cm. . . .
Each procedure has three stages. First comes the operation in which the legs are broken and steel pins — 27cm long and 8mm in diameter — are pushed through the bone. These are fixed to an external frame by eight or so screws, each of which is 4mm in diameter. Next comes the stretching, which is carried out over several months (depending on how much the customer wants to grow) by turning the screws each day and lengthening the bone at the point where it was broken. When the stretching is completed the external frame is removed. In the final stage, the steel pins are left in place for about a year as a support for the newly regenerated bone.
Once it has hardened, the pins are removed. . . .
Bones stretched too rapidly will not grow strong enough to support the body’s weight. Legs extended at different speeds can become misshapen and nerves can be damaged. Horror stories about other less capable surgeons appear from time to time in the Chinese media.
Young women have reportedly been left with their feet splayed outwards on legs that are weirdly twisted; the bones of others have never properly healed and they keep breaking at the slightest knock.
In one of the worst reported cases, a 31-year-old woman was left in the frame for a year because her bones proved so brittle that they could not support her weight after being stretched. Her feet still point in odd directions and she is unable to squat.
It is simply disgusting that someone would even think that they need to subject themselves to this procedures simply for the sake of making a boyfriend or potential employer happy. It is dangerous, painful, and this particular surgery makes what were once normal-looking legs into unnatural legs with freakishly long shins.
Be happy with yourself! I am much more attracted to natural beauty. I would take someone who wears no make and goes natural that some beautied up, make-up covered, surgically altered woman any day. Nothing can compete with the healthy glow of a natural face. Make up, surgery, accessories, hair product, etc. only take away from the beauty of nature.
Women should be proud and happy to show their natural beauty, and not forced into depression and even suicide becuase they feel that they have no chance of living up to the impossible and unobtainable demands that males and other females place on them.