If you think cosmetic surgery is only for women, it’s time to reconsider. According to a report by the Seoul city government, the number of older males reacting favorably to cosmetic surgery has more than doubled in the past two years. This apparently reflects the growing trend of “lookism” or an “aggressive approach to look better in other people’s eyes.”

The administration surveyed 22,600 males in Seoul and found 30.5 percent of those in their 20s and 30s as well as 16.1 percent of those over 50 years old responding that it’s okay for men to undergo plastic surgery for aesthetic purposes. The noticeable change was among the older generation: while the figure rose to about 9.8 percent among the younger males, it marked an over two-fold increase from 2008, when only 8.6 percent approved of it.

Twenty-nine-year-old Chung has gone under the knife three times ㅡ twice for a nose implant and once for double eyelid surgery. He said he doesn’t feel embarrassed at all.

“Before, I always thought I was the unattractive one. When good looking guys confidently flirted with girls, I always couldn’t stop staring at them. But after surgery, I feel equally confident. I could talk to any girl and some of them tell me that I look nice. It helped my business and in other aspects in life,” he said. “I recommend it to other people. Why stress when you can change it?”

“Politicians are receiving Botox or double eyelid treatments as well as actors becoming instantly more attractive and it has influenced ordinary people to consider plastic surgery,” Park Yong-nam, a plastic surgeon, said. “Many people think appearance is one of the crucial factors for competitiveness. It boosts one’s self confidence, which is positive for life overall,” he added. [The Korea Times]

The Korea Times attributes the popularity of cosmetic surgery in Korea to three things.

Indeed, Koreans are so cosmetics-surgery crazy, they try to fix everything on their faces. It is universally recognized that Korea is a haven for removing their “physical inferiority complex.” Why is plastic surgery so popular in Korea?

Three important ingredients are present in Korean society to make this possible: One, a population made up of people with plain faces; two, enough money to go around for this fixing enterprise; three, Korea’s famed one-for-all and all-for-one herd mentality.

Combine these three factors and you can see reasons for this wild popularity in plastic surgery. It is so popular and accepted that even the late President Roh, during the first year of his tenure, had an aesthetic eye operation, which made his eyes look bigger like those of an actor ready to go on stage. [The Korea Times]

Time Magazine Asia points out cosmetic surgery being performed in Korea that you don’t see.

The cultural quirks of the plastic surgery business in Asia also extend to sexuality. In China, Korea and Indonesia, where virginity is highly prized, young women go in for hymen reconstructionin time for their wedding night. In Japan, Indonesia and Korea, men ask for penis-enlargement procedures, in part to avoid shame when bathing en masse. [Time Asia]

A 2007 Washington Post article links Koreans obsession with cosmetic surgery, in part, to their belief that external looks are more important than internal looks.

The survey, which was part of a doctoral dissertation and widely covered in Korean newspapers, contacted 810 women in Seoul and its suburbs. A majority of those surveyed agreed that “[e]xternal factors, rather than internal factors, are more important in defining a person’s beauty.” [The Washington Post] 

It is getting harder to discern natural looks in Korea as a large part of the population resorts to plastic surgery.  I guess if you are considering cosmetic surgery and are living in Korea, it is not a bad idea to look into it while you are here considering the cost is much cheaper in Korea than the U.S.

So, in no particular order, here you go.

Old Camp Page being torn down.

Looking out from Yami-do Island now accessible by car via the new Sea Wall

Entrance to North East DMZ area.

An exhibit at the Korean War Exhibition Museum located at the North East DMZ.

Last Restroom in North East ROK.

Looking into NK from the North East DMZ. The island to the right is ROK territory.

A memorial to honor Koreans that served in the Vietnam War.

Korean Independence Movement Monument.

Statue in Jin-Do of Yi Soon Shin famous Admiral during the Chosun Dynasty.

Tunnel leading into Jinhae City.

Stone wall in Jin-Do built 800 years ago during the Koryeo Dynasty.

South Korean Soldiers patrol the beach next to a hotel I stayed at.

These were taken between 22-29 April 2010.  Click on any photo to see full size.

You can see a few more photos here.

With less than a month to go before its first astronaut travels into space, South Korea has made a last-minute change, selecting a woman instead of a man, the government said Monday.
The switch would make Yi So-yeon the second Asian woman to go into space, following Chiaki Mukai of Japan who made two trips into orbit in the 1990s.

In a news briefing, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said it has decided to switch its primary astronaut candidate for the planned April 8 launch from Ko San to Yi following requests from Russian evaluators.

“The main reason for the change is based on two consecutive violations of training protocol by Ko,” said Lee Sang-mok, the head of the ministry’s space technology bureau. Ko mistakenly sent a mission training manual home along with his personal belongings last September, but it was sent back immediately.

Last month he acquired a spacecraft pilot’s instructions that he was not authorized to read. The South Korean astronaut is a mission specialist and is required to carry out various scientific experiments in space.

“Ko was aware of the rules and signed an agreement not to break them on entering the program,” Lee said. Controllers from the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) had also warned him to be careful to abide by the rules, he added. The official speculated that an urge to study every aspect of the space program may have prompted Ko to study material that he was not authorized to read.

KARI president Paik Hong-yul said the Russians emphasized the importance of following rules because minor mistakes and disobedience could have serious consequences in space.

The scientist said that Russia sent a report on the infractions on Friday along with the result of medical tests and asked South Korea to make the “right decision” on this issue.  [Yonhap]

I like how the Korean media just glossed over what Ko did.  He just had a “urge to study” and “mistakenly” mailed mission training manuals home.  How do you mistakenly mail home not one but two manuals?  Ko I am willing to bet was committing industrial espionage for the Koreans.

With Ko gone he was replaced by the back up space tourist Yi So-yeon:

Many of you may remember Yi So-yeon from Michael Hurt’s interview with her which she seems to be quite a nice and bright person.  Michael is obviously quite happy with the turn of events that is sending Yi So-yeon into space.  Good for her and I hope she has a great trip.

Yonhap claims that Yi So-yeon will be the 2nd Asian female into space after the Japanese astronaut Chiaki Mukai.  As usual though, Yonhap is incorrect because there has been other Asian women in space such as Indian born American Kalpana Chawla.  There has even been another Asian female space tourist who went up with the Russians just like Yi So-yeon is going to.  Iranian born American, Anousheh Ansari blasted off into space with the Russians back in 2006.  Last time I checked India and Iran were both in Asia.

If anyone is wondering why I keep calling the Korean “astronaut” a space tourist you can read my prior posting on this here along with some great comments, but the bottom line is that this whole thing is nothing more then a Korean flag waving exercise.  The Korean government did not want to invest in the time necessary to have Koreans compete for NASA slots which currently a number of foreigners hold with NASA to include seven Japanese and even a Brazilian.

Korea does not want to appear to be left behind by the Japanese and Chinese space programs and thus have paid the Russians to send their “astronaut” up to make it appear Korea is on par with the Japanese and the Chinese to protect their precious image.  I guess the opportunity to commit a little industrial espionage was tempting as well.  So when Yi So-yeon does go into space expect a lot of Korean flag waving and a minimizing of Russian involvement in sending the first Korean “astronaut” into space.

The Korean netizens are at again criticizing the depicting of bridge in a recent episode of the television drama LOST:

A rather poor substitute for Korea’s historic Hangang Grand Bridge shown in the American television series "Lost" has provoked intense feelings among some Korean watchers.

In the 18th episode of the third season of "Lost" which aired a week ago, a bridge labeled as the Hangang Grand Bridge appears briefly in the background of one scene.

(…)

Some Koreans discussing the episode on Internet message boards called the production sloppy and criticized the show makers for their apparent ignorance of Korea.

"It was so absurd I couldn’t even laugh," wrote somebody called "ion***" on the Naver portal. "How could they film a scene like that? What does the U.S. think of Korea?"

Another poster wrote, "The producers of Lost have gone too far. They don’t have to know everything about Korea, but this is ridiculous."

This is really idiotic criticism because the show is filmed in Hawaii where the bridge depicted is located at.  I’m sure the shows creators added the Korean lettering to the bridge thinking it would give the scene more of a Korean atmosphere since they were filming in Hawaii, but the childish Korean netizens are once again using this as to create a perception of Americans slapping Koreans in the face once again. 

You would think they would have learned their lesson when they criticized LOST during season one because the two Korean characters were initially portrayed negatively in the series.  However, as the story line progressed these two characters became some of the main heroes in the series and it became clear why the characters acted the way they did at the beginning of the series. 

The LOST series has done more for Korea actors and film industry than any others movie or series in the US.  Yet the netizens think it is anti-Korean because the producer won’t pay to fly the entire cast and crew to Seoul to film a brief scene of Kim Yun-jin walking across a bridge.  I’m sure they wouldn’t have been complaining if in the background of the same scene there was a USFK soldier dumping toxic waste into the river.  These netizens really need to get a life. 

You can read more on this over at Lost Nomad and the Marmot’s Hole.

The Foreign Ministry is hiring an American PR firm to put a positive spin on its U.S. policies in a nation that has been reading them as increasingly hostile.

The Foreign Ministry recently wrote to the parliamentary Unification, Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee asking for an extra budget of W1.2 billion (about US$1.2 million) next year to pay for the plan, which would take PR work off the hands of the Korean Embassy in Washington.

In the notice, the ministry said the plan aimed to improve understanding and correct misconceptions of Korea’s diplomatic and security policies vis-a-vis the U.S among Americans.

This would be the first time Korea has hired a private firm for the urgent task of improving its image in an alliance many Americans perceive as increasingly strained.

I really don’t think it is a bad idea that Korea is hiring a PR firm. However, something I do have problem with; is when the Foreign Ministry releases a statement like this:

“There are limits to what embassy staff can do to deal with U.S. opinion leaders like journalists, academics and lawmakers in a systematic way. Local PR firms know the internal situation in the U.S. best and have the necessary connections,” the ministry said. “We have to turn around U.S. public opinion about Korea’s diplomatic and security policies and relations to the U.S., and we are going to look for ways of countering smears and attacks against Korea.”

I would like the foreign ministry to define what these smears and attacks against Korea are exactly? Is he referring to the US Congressional Letter to President Roh as a smear attack? I would really like to know what all these smear attacks are. Is televising and writing articles about the anti-American protests at Camp Humphreys and the MacArthur statue a smear attack against Korea? Last I checked these were factual events that happened. Reporting the truth is not a smear.

I hope Congressmen Hyde picks up the phone and calls the Korean Embassy in Washington to ask them what all the smear attacks are. That would be an interesting phone call to listen on to.

This story is making national news in the states and was featured prominently on the Rush Limbaugh Show. Here is an exerpt from the transcript,

“This is not the only fund-raising scandal that appears to be brewing in the Kerry campaign. Get this: “A South Korean man who met with John Kerry’s fund-raisers to discuss creating a new political group for Korean-Americans was actually an intelligence agent for his country, raising concerns among some U.S. officials that either he or his government may have tried to influence this fall’s election. The spokesman for the South Korean consulate office…” This guy’s name, by the way, is Chung. What is it with the Democratic Party and funny money donors named Chung? In Clinton’s case it was a guy named Johnny Chung. This guy’s name is Chung Byung-Man. He’s a consular officer in Los Angeles, actually worked for South Korea’s national intelligence service.”

“A spokesman for the South Korean consulate office said that Chung Byung-Man was sent home in May amid speculation that he became involved with the Kerry campaign and Democratic Party through contacts with fund-raiser Rick Yi and that his identity could not be discussed further. Kerry campaign spokesman Chad Clanton said that the campaign did not know that Chung was an intelligence agent or that Yi, one of the campaign’s key fund-raisers in the Asian-American community was meeting with him until it was brought to light by the AP.”

Could you imagine what would happen if the CIA was caught helping out a campaign against President Roh? Then you add all the anti-American protests, the sluggish response to send troops to Iraq, constant labor strife, unwillingness to take strong measures against North Korea, and now the Yongsan garrison issue and it is no wonder Korea has such a bad image in America. The Korean government likes to blame America for a lot of things, but they cannot blame America for their bad image; they can only blame themselves.