By Thin is in…
Korea’s use of slimming pills and appetite suppressants ranks near the top in the world despite an obesity rate of 3.5 percent, only a quarter of the OECD’s average 14.6 percent.
It is a paradox that one of the skinniest countries in the world consumes the largest amount of diet drugs. In a survey of 1,000 Koreans aged 15 to 59 by Consumers Korea, 86 percent had gone or were on a diet in 2008, while 13 percent said they had resorted to diet pills. [The Chosun Ilbo]
Does this suprise anyone?
10:33 am on March 27th, 2010 1
It may seem counterintuitive, but it actually makes sense that so most Koreans have dieted. Avoiding weight gain requires some vigilance when food is abundant. I recall reading a news story a few months ago which noted that forty years ago more Americans dieted compared to today, yet obesity rates were much lower. There are many reasons why Americans and some other nationalities have gotten so big, and one of them, it seems, is that people's perceptions of size have changed from human bodies to food portions to vehicles to homes.
11:00 am on March 27th, 2010 2
Sonagi, I was going to blog this later, but in response to your comment about increasing portion sizes, I thought I'd mention a recent news item (see here) about how over a thousand years depictions of food in the Last Supper kept getting larger and larger.
11:10 am on March 27th, 2010 3
I saw that news item, too.
11:18 am on March 27th, 2010 4
In many cases diet pills are not taken to lose weight. Many are just speed. You can stay up playing Star-craft for days, man!
12:48 pm on March 27th, 2010 5
Back in the day, I was able to get something Koreans called "fingar". Real good for guard duty. Wish I could get some now, but there is not a Korean Pharmacy near or around here.
Never did know what the stuff was.
1:00 pm on March 27th, 2010 6
Oh man, I remember fingar or fringar! When I was stationed north of the Imjin, I wouldn't take a pass all week so I could have a noon Saturday to noon Sunday pass so I could head to I'taewon. We would get one of the hookers at the bottom of hooker hill go buy us 10,000 won worth and then party all night long without sleep! Sure do miss those days! lol (just kidding, I'm too old now and would die if I tried living like that!)
1:09 pm on March 27th, 2010 7
Yep, good old Fringars were the young soldiers friend. I suspect they were 100% amphetamine. If I remember correctly the packaging was in German.
5:18 pm on March 27th, 2010 8
Well, that and the copious amount of junk they eat. Just look at the dessert-like drinks that pass for a cup of coffee nowadays.
9:34 pm on March 27th, 2010 9
Since my first post isn't coming up…
Fringar is/was phendimetrazine.
10:41 pm on March 27th, 2010 10
Thanks for the confirmation. I looked it up myself. Wanted to know what I had been taking, on and off, for a couple of years.
What surprized me about the stuff was I COULD sleep on the stuff. That time frame in my service was the only time frame when I did not have to be "taped" every six months after weight-in. A very "busy" time for me.
Hookers in Itaewon used to tell me it would make me crazy. I always told them not to worry, I was already there.
Ahhhh the good ole days: Young and dumb and full of it.
10:51 pm on March 27th, 2010 11
T.L.
Was your time line anywhere between June 1988 and Sept 1992? Just wondering if your one of the MANY that I shared "Hooker-Hill" with
I could write a book about those four years. Might even be worth reading 
Have to give MS Min her very own chapter
We sometimes even TALKED. Damn fine relationship.
1:29 am on March 28th, 2010 12
Koreans seem to have an obsession about never wanting to get fat. They fatten their kids up because they believe it gives the appearance of wealth and happiness, but once they become adults they starve them so they can marry. Strange dichotomy.
1:32 am on March 28th, 2010 13
Retired GI:
To be honest, we had enough "buy me drinkee" bars up near Munsan so when I went to Seoul, I typically hit the nightclubs. We used to hang out at the Sportsman's Club, Twilight Zone (which is still there if you can believe it – but all Korean), King Club, etc. I also used to hang out a bit at the Nashville Club which is still there and Skip and Oki still own it. But it has changed a lot.
5:52 am on April 30th, 2010 14
Loads of those Fringars between '88 and '90. Loads of 'em. I finally got so strung out I had to quit taking 'em. But wow! Four day weekends in Itaewon were the norm. No sleep.
6:53 am on April 30th, 2010 15
What about Romalars? Not sure of the spelling..but real small pills, yellow I think..any takers? I gobbled a handfull once on a binge at Camp Stanley in 84…what a ride….It was like dreaming while you're awake…oh and I was a medic too…
10:39 am on April 30th, 2010 16
Yea. I forgot about those. Yellow "cold medicine" I was told. "dreaming while you're awake" is a good discription
I think it was a medic that told me about them too! But the time frame was 90-91.
Smokin dope would get you busted and drinking is bad for you.
5:32 am on July 15th, 2010 17
Romilar! Or Skochi (little) Yellows as the hookers called 'em. Wow that stuff was weird. Romilar was banned in the US in '73 in its pill form, but it's still around in Korea. I remember a platoon sergeant coming into my room and there was like six of us sprawled on the beds tripping on Romilar. They didn't want to know, they just closed the door and walked away. I once mixed Romilar and Fringars. SCARY! I stayed awake all night and hallucinated terrifying things. I'm not kidding. But the run the next day wild. I had loads of energy but thought I was running through Vietnam.
8:38 am on August 5th, 2010 18
I used to live in Dong Ulsan and am familiar with Fringar.. Q :- Is it still available and if so where ?
1:58 pm on August 12th, 2010 19
Diet pills might help you to reduce your weight but they have nasty side effects too~::
8:43 pm on August 12th, 2010 20
Most Koreans that I meet today are clinically obese. They should use more diet pills to counteract the effects of American Fast Food Culture! Exercise is not an option because it detracts from on-line gaming.
1:32 am on August 13th, 2010 21
Is it still available ?..
9:42 am on October 5th, 2010 22
THOMAS LEE WERE YOU IN THE 1/9 INF 81-82 ROMALARS WAS LIKE NOTHING I HAVE EVER EXPERIANCED TO ME IT WAS LIKE EVERYTHING WAS IN FRAME PHOTOGRAPHY,ONCE I LAYED OUTSIDE MY BARRACKES ALL NIGHT I COULD HEAR PEOPLE TALKING BUT COULD NOT PICK MYSELF UP OFF THE GROUND OR CRAWL.PRAYED IF THE LORD LET ME RECOVER I WOULD NEVER DO THEM AGAIN…NEXT WEEKEND I WAS BACK AT IT.
1:15 pm on October 5th, 2010 23
Perry, I was with the 9th 86-87.
5:47 am on October 18th, 2010 24
i always avoid diet pills because they have nasty side effects::;
12:09 am on November 8th, 2010 25
diet pills are sometimes dangerous so you should be very careful when you are taking it _
2:47 am on November 8th, 2010 26
24 and 25, Drink too much water and you drown.
4:33 am on November 8th, 2010 27
26 ~ Don't you just hate sloshing around with your fingers in your ears, corks up your nose and having to stick your bottom lip out so as not to spill any ? … or was that the Soju I'm remembering ? NOW where's the friggin'Fringar ??
12:53 am on December 22nd, 2010 28
oh yeah, fringar … unusual stuff, i found … an alternate speed … works, but with a different class of side effects … all u guys wot done speed know it's difficult to urinate on speed, even the girls i'm told … on fringar, a pit stop is easy … other side effects: lips and eyes get dry, like grass … fringar does not mix well with grass, similar to coke and unlike speed which does mix well with grass … i found fringar vaguely promoted a sense of visual patterns, which is odd since i have never had a visual trip on anything … medical notes on the active drug caution against possible erectile disfunction … personal note: as usual, kiddies, i don't care what you're on as long as you drive safe
6:43 am on February 4th, 2011 29
I was at Camp Casey 88-89. I remember Romilar and Fringars all too well. We did them WAY too much! I can't believe we ever got away with as much as we did. We called them "skoshi yellows" and got them from a local pawn shop right outside of Camp Casey. Years later I found out that Romilar is a cough medicine that was taken off the market in the U.S. a few decades back but is still available in some countries. (South Korea being one of them)
Romilar is nothing more than Dextromethorphan. You can find it in most of the over the counter cough medicines such as Robotussin. (I'll let you do the googling)
11:12 am on December 4th, 2011 30
-i was in yongson in 87-89 , partying up in itaewon in the kings club. i once stayed awake for 9 days on fringar, drinking 24\7. THAT was too crazy. I think i lost some years off my life. anybody in the 8th army remember a Dan wollam, email me @ icel@sbcglobal.net. Would like to get my hands on some more of those fringars.(and some soju)
11:25 am on December 4th, 2011 31
#30
Prior to the year 2000, any Korean could walk into a pharmacy and purchase whatever they told the pharmacist they needed. That’s the main reason Korean pharmacies were off limits to GIs. Shortly after the years 2000, the Korean government changed to law to require a doctor’s prescription for serious medication.
I suspect there were quite a few Koreans who went into withdrawal after that.
4:40 am on January 4th, 2012 32
Try 1979 and 80. We lived on Romalars until we got a cold funny side effect for cold pills. No body talked about the side effect that was utlized when you were all on hooker hill. Besides the all too weird high it left you harder then a 5 dollar jaw breaker, Blue Steel, Superman. I think that was why they were part of the daily deit plan.
LOL