Agreed. Korea is no longer a struggling poor developing country where the young and innocent are sent off to countries around the world for the hopes of a better life. Now, the Korean government is campaigning to keep adoptions within the motherland.
And this year, top stars Lee Mi-yeon, Yun Eun-hye, Joo Ji-hoon, Kim Jung-Eun, Jang Hyuk, Park Jung-a, Lee Seung-ki, Wondergirls, Suh Kyeong-suk participated in a special photo shoot by photographer Cho Sei-hon.
The “Letter from the angels No. 5″ campaign started in 2003 to encourage adoptions within the country.
The star studded black n’ white photos will be displayed at the Insa Art Center (Gana Art Gallery) in Insa-dong, Seoul from December 12 to 19th, 2007. Or, you can view more pictures at lovefund.or.kr (in Korean).
(top: Joo Ji-hoon – The best picture of the set since he looks very sad while the baby is looking at him and sucking his thumb. Cute!)
(left to right: Han Hye-jin, Jang Hyuk, Kim Jung-eun, Lee Mi-yeon, Park Jung-ah, Yoon Eun-hye)
Pop in:
Joo Ji-hoon does singles
Yun Eun-hye is at right angles
20 million won for a date with Wondergirls
B-list stars auction off their jeans
I don’t wanna get too involved in the politics side of this campaign. I personally think the option of overseas adoption should be kept open provided they ensure the process is strict & thorough- you want to give the child the best possible opportunity to enter the best possible family for them. I know of a Korean girl who was adopted by Australian parents & she’s turned out fine.
Perhaps it would be better for the government to look at reducing the number of orphans. I don’t know exactly how many orphans are attributed to single mothers, but perhaps more support & funding for single parents or struggling families could be something they looked at.
Dang, & all I wanted to say was that Ju Ji Hoon can adopt me any day lol Jang Hyuk, too =)
“As Kristina stated above, the government is not discouraging foreign adoption but encouraging domestic ones. Do not make assumptions that are not there. ”
Personally for me, I didn’t think it was very clear what the Korean gov’t’s intentions were, based on what was posted above.
“Stars want adoptions to stay in Korea”
“Now, the Korean government is campaigning to keep adoptions within the motherland.”
After reading that, I was led to believe that they were trying to put a limit on adoption abroad.
“The “Letter from the angels No. 5″ campaign started in 2003 to encourage adoptions within the country.”
That statement made it seem, like you said, that they were simply encouraging adoption within Korea.
Adoption is an incredibly sensitive area for some people. As far as I can see, a lot of people who are posting don’t know what the process is all about. I notice a lot of them making generalizations about adoptees as well. It is easy for people, like me or others, who feel strongly about this topic to go off on tangents.
So after what I posted earlier, I apologize if I misinterpreted the article. But I don’t think you can get mad at people who are passionately defending adoption abroad, because it is easy to interpret dicouragement of adoption abroad as the Korean government’s aim based on the statements above.
I definitely support…..
Adoptions….!!
N all those babies are Cute….!!
N undeniably Joo Ji Hoon looks really good in that pics….!!
I think korean gov’t use young celebrities to do this ad, because they want to encourage the young korean adult, to adopt these orphanes. Because someday, the young korean will be a parent too, right?
And no, they didnt forbid the foreigner to adopt the babies. Say if there is 5 babies. 4 babies are adopted by foreigners, and 1 by korean parent. With this campaign, they hope, next 5 babies will adopted by more than just 1 korean parent. Of course they have a standard for adoption process.
With same quality parents (foreigner and korean), of course it would be better if the babies grow up in same bloodline. Being adopted children is hard enough, so don’t make harder.
To Dumpling, I think the campaign is not in english, but in korean language.
Check out the source http://lovefund.or.kr/
I was adopted by white parents from China and I don’t see any problems with it. “Losing your culture” is really such a superficial argument, IMHO – your culture is what you’re brought up with. I don’t speak Chinese, and I have more interest in Korea and Japan than China. So what?
Personally I think I’m turning out fine. (And I’m actually more stereotypically Asian than many of my Asian friends with Asian parents. ;D)
I am glad the stars are doing this campaign. The process for adoption for would-be parents who already live in the same country must be a lot simpler than the processes for foreign would-be parents, so more orphans who need homes will get them faster, hopefully.
Hm… are these packages? If so, I would like the Jang Hyuk + cute baby package.
the photographer is very talented. JJH and baby is the one that that looks the most touching. He oozes a that hot fatherly appeal for some reason.
On the whole, this photoshoot is pretty sweet.
OMG!!! my ju ji hun,his eyes expressed how he felt for those none parent child!!,so adoreable!!.
No,this moment no hard talk,and i think all star did these with their good heart.
Dumpling, you hit the nail on the head. But I think it more then just Korea that has the anti-Americanism wave growing. Flat out Americans are majority who adopted from most countries and lots of countries are starting to play their anti-Americanism into policies.
CHINA & RUSSIA are 2 countries who have recently done just this. China made major restrictions/changes to who can adopt because Americans were adopting way too many Chinese Children for their liking. Russia also has yet to renew all American adoption agency licenses last time I checked, totally shutting down American-Russian adoptions.
Now if two of the most growing anti-American powerhouses can do this I don’t think South Korea is beyond/incapable of it.
Frankly, I believe all these countries would be just as happy if their women would just go ahead and abort their pregnancies so they (the government) don’t have to be “bothered” with these orphans. China makes it almost impossible for a woman to keep her baby and many of the babies given up in China are in fact wanted and loved by their parents, but due to China’s one-child law (heinous) and the society’s frowning upon girl babies, mothers who would otherwise WANT to keep their children ending up giving them away. China is going to be very, very, very sorry for it’s programs one day. The vast majority of Chinese orphans are GIRLS.
I give kudos to these Korean celebrities who are participating in this ad campaign because it shows they care for children and are supportive of these children being born and given to loving families. I have no problem with the campaign promoting Korean adoption within the country. I’m all for that. I was only questioning the sudden attention to “Koreans should be adopting Koreans”. Should have had this campaign 30 years ago. But whatever.
In Japan, women were leaving their “unwanted” ( I really don’t like the word “unwanted”. If they didn’t want them, they would have aborted.) babies at police stations and other public places. To help combat this a Catholic hospital opened up a “baby drop” where mothers could literally drop their babies off in a hatch. It is very clean and very safe and monitored by nursing staff 24 hours a day. It is a beautiful thing. However, the Japanese government had the audacity to criticize this as “embarassing”. Without a doubt I believe that many countries make it so hard (I’m talking to you, too, America) for people to either 1) have an “unwanted” baby or 2) adopt a baby, that I am left genuinely believing it is a veiled promotion of abortion.
I would NEVER accuse these Korean celebrities of just trying to get their face in the news or promoting themselves. There are countless other ways they could do that besides posing with orphaned babies. I believe their care for this campaign is genuine.
Even though the thread’s dead, and the post spews nationalist backwards BS on adoption…I gotta pick on this.
The act of “keeping within” is simultaneously carried out by the act of “keeping out”. Encouraging keeping adoptions within Korea IS discouraging overseas adoptions. If it’s actually true that Korea just want to encourage domestic adoption, the campaign should then be “raising domestic adoption awareness in Korea.” It’s not right to keep adoptions rights away from anyone who is genuine and capable, period.
I do enjoy the pictures of the celebs with their babies. Black and white always work well in humanitarian ads.
“The act of “keeping within” is simultaneously carried out by the act of “keeping out”.”
Not true. You are attempting to play with semantics and it doesn’t work. A positive does not necessitate a negative. If I say “eat chocolate ice cream, it’s delicious” that does NOT mean I am saying that vanilla, strawberry and rum raisin ice creams are not delicious. Saying that adoptions should increase within Korea is NOT saying that foreigners should no longer be allowed to adopt Korean babies. It simply isn’t being said and any interpretation as such is flawed.
And besides all this, the bottom line is that those babies are Korean and the South Korean government can make all the laws they want to about THEIR citizens. Foreigners are not entitled to any other country’s babies. It would be wonderful for foreigners to continue being allowed to adopt from Korea and I’m sure they will, but foreigners have no inherent right to it. It is a free will gift from the government of South Korea and nothing less.
I do like this place, simply for its superficial value and I do find it rather humorous when there are comments about the plastic surgery going about (who has, who hasn’t, the comments of fans and people who don’t like them), but I think what just really makes a flip on this is the title: “Stars want adoptions to stay in Korea.”
Stars want adoptions to stay in Korea = Stars don’t want adoptions to go out of the country. It’s simple as that. And the fact the the next word that comes along is “agreed”, it’s simply stupid. As I said, as a lot of people stated, it shouldn’t matter where the children grow as long as they get a good family and are out of the orphanage. There are many things wrong with this campaign, such as none of those celebs actually having children of their own or planing to adopt children. Also, the only orphans you see are babies, but what about the older kids? The ones that have been in the orphanage for so long and nobody wants them because they’re too old? I’ve been volunteering at an “orphanage” for 5 years and I know the run-about-deal. Couples want babies, and the nicest looking one possible. To some, it’s like looking for a new puppy, it’s really disgusting. The smallest, the cutest, the more they want them. On the other hand, there are people who just want to help and will adopt whoever they have a connection with.
Instead of “Stars want adoptions to stay in Korea”, it should be “Stars encourage Koreans to adopt”. Be it Korean or not. And not just the babies.
And another point I’d like to touch upon: “Korea is no longer a struggling poor developing country where the young and innocent are sent off to countries around the world for the hopes of a better life. Now, the Korean government is campaigning to keep adoptions within the motherland.”
Sure, but “Korea” is still South Korea. And there’s still North Korea. And it’s not because there aren’t violently fighting against each other that the war has stopped. The war never stopped, they simply agreed on stopping fire.
You say at least it’s a start? I say it’s at least a bad start. Wanting to have children stay in their country is wanting to block them from going out and it’s not a sensitizing thing, it’s simply pure pride. Pride shouldn’t be involved in these things, heart should be.
What’s that saying again? Oh yeah: “Think before you talk.”
Really think. I would say get off your blind adoration for the country to really assess it because, yes it has so many beautiful aspects but like every other country, there’s the bad too. You can’t simply agree just based on your adoration, you need to agree by assessing everything. And once you did that, it’s hard to agree with this.
1) There are a lot of adoptees who visit popseoul.
2) Popseoul! should respond more to their own topics like they have for this one.
3) This topic has probably created the record for “longest posts”
Doom
YOu and others make excellent points but understand sometimes growing up in a foreign land isn’t always a bed of roses. Also sometimes people don’t always adopt for the goodness of the children, sometimes it benefits them like maybe a tax break, I am just saying so if South Korea wants to encourage people to adopt from within then they should be allowed to do that. Also some stars probably tried to adopt but the same rules that apply to singles probably applied to them just like military service and celebrities are pretty busy with their own lives I cant see Joo Ji Hoon changing diapers.
Thank you Meru,
“The act of “keeping within” is simultaneously carried out by the act of “keeping out”.”
I don’t thinking people are getting this simple fact. It’s not about just promoting home adoptions it’s about limiting foreign adoptions at the same time. This is NOT AN ASSUMPTION!! Read the adoption policies. Playing on words and ignoring the underline meaning does not change any of this.
Korea wants to look good and make a change, how better would it look for them to not only promote home adoptions but foreign adoptions as well? How hard would it be for the government to limit some of the restrictions on foreign adoptions? Why does this government not want it kids adopted by loving family? Once again, does it trace back to cultural values of that society?
Korea less then 2 months after the Christopher Paul Neil pedo scandal made government changes that are going into affect by the end of this year or January if I correct that makes ESL teachers go through great hurdles before they will be allowed to teach in Korea. LESS THEN 2 MONTHS!!! Yet this same government can’t come up with better adoption polices? How superficial is it that the South Korean government only takes action when the world is watching.
Dumpling, to use your example of chocolate flavored icecream: if you said that you are keeping a chooclate icecream bar within a wrapper, is it not true that you are keeping germs away from the icecream bar?
It’s not a matter of semantics nor interpretation, it’s a matter of understanding the meaning of words, in this case, “keeping within”.
Anyway, I was only criticizing the adoption policy as conveyed by Popseoul, which to me seemed misleading and wrongly conveyed. If it’s simply raising awareness about adoption in Korea, that’s great. But I didn’t get that feel good connotation from reading this, “Korea is no longer a struggling poor developing country where the young and innocent are sent off to countries around the world for the hopes of a better life.” Please, and next.
dwilliams: I’m sorry, your comment about adopting for tax breaks seems completely outdated and ill-informed. Do you know anything about the process of adoption and the intense screening programs one has to go through? My parents had to do a year of intense counseling, personality tests, background tests, and paperwork in order to adopt my sister and then had to do the same thing a year later when they wanted to adopt me. It would be incredibly, incredibly difficult to adopt for a “tax break”, especially when you have to pay about $30,000 for a baby from Korea, anyway. It’s not exactly as if they’re free.
“It’s not exactly as if they’re free.” Yes, indeed. Some people seem to think foreigners are “out to take Korean babies” away from the country. It takes a lot of selfless dedication and commitment to adopt a child.
Meru: I completely agree, I felt that the statements above were unclear as to what the motives of the Korean government are in this campaign.
If the stars really believe in this campaign, then Ji Hoon set the tone and adopt.
He has so much time to worry about who’s getting the bigger paycheck.
WHy take the stupid photograph when you can be an actual parent. I find him even more attractive with a kid (he seems responsible – he values human life, not just his own)
Psssh! If the babies can go to good homes what is the problem? ..or is this another one of those things where Koreans think that they need to keep the blood pure so they dont want to let their babies go out into the world where they could encounter someone not of their race and marry them? LMAO
i liked the one with Kim Jung-Eun the most.
quoting ELMO:Hm… are these packages? If so, I would like the Jang Hyuk + cute baby package.
ME TOO, please! ^0^
all the pics look great..yeap thanks to the photographer and I like it black and white
so.. who among the noted celebrities are willing to adopt? i read some article that almost all of them left the photoshoot immediately after the pictures were taken.. only 1 of them stayed and played with the kids for two hours. tsk tsk that’s anothing i don’t like about korean advertisements. it lacks credibility. phooeey. if they, rather, hired REAL (even nameless) koreans who have already adopted korean babies then maybe (JUST MAYBE) they can change their culture.
there wouldn’t be so many babies left behind for adoption if protection was used to begin with. geez…i just feel terrible for these cute little ones due to their ignorant biological parents. shouldn’t even try to have something that you can’t be responsible for.
@ Lolah
South Korean law doesn’t allow single people to adopt. It’s impossible to say what any of these celebrities would do or not do since they are all single and not in any position to make this choice. Normally, I would agree with your point but in this case the usual doesn’t apply. It’s not like they are doing a Pepsi campaign and caught drinking Coke. This is entirely different.
I would be curious to know which one stayed 2 hours and played with the baby. I was reading an article on this campaign and it said that Joo Ji-Hoon showed up and ran straight for his little boy and played with him the whole time. The photographer said he was so loving and natural with the baby, something rare for a single and young guy, that it seemed like he’d already had experience being a daddy. Cute-ness!! Actually, I don’t even have a clue who this actor is but he sounds nice.
awww, so adorable, I especially like the 3th picture with that girl named Kim Jung-eun. It looks so natural and gives me a calm feeling. maybe it’s beacuase she’s the only one who doesn’t look in to the camera. And Jang Hyuk’s baby looks soo cute and funny!
once again another reason that celebrities should keep their mouths shut
none of these people have any clue or if they even had the facts about korean orphans would admit to how they are treated and what zero chance they have in this materialistic purely elite drive sucess society
they all need to shut the f up and learn something besides what the next fashion tip of the day is
racist xenophobic morons!!!!!
YYH looks beautiful.
so innocent with the baby.
my fav pic.
Jang Hyuk’s picture is the best!
the baby is sooo cute and they look alikexD
i graduated from a school run by Korean Nuns also running a home for children (The World Villages for Children or the Sisters of Mary School in Seoul and Pusan).. the school takes care of the children from birth and gives them the best education… you can check this out: http://www.worldvillages.org/seoul4.asp
i heard a few stories why an American Priest put up the school (and invited Korean Nuns and Priests in the cause)…
1) after the Korean war, many children were orphaned
2) single parents are looked down upon [or not allowed? am not too sure] so the Nuns end up picking babies at the gates of the school or home for these poor innocent children being left there by their moms
3) there are lots of requirements for adoption…
not only the children are the victims here, but also the (single) parents who are in any way forced to give up their children…
if this action of the government is their first step in securing the future of the Korean children (who are also the future of the Nation), preserving lineage and cultural heritage, and tearing down its “social class or status” mentality, then it’s good news… but the society is still harsh… (Koreans still has a lot way to go when it comes to dealing with their fellow Koreans…)
however, an innocent child still deserves the best…
so i still believe that these children should go to a good home where they can be provided well with what they need.. love, care, food, shelter, clothes, education and respect…may it be a local or foreign home…
in the school, instead of giving up the children for adoption, the Sisters give the children equal opportunity, the children are treated equally, they can hone their talents and develop themselves to better persons…
anyways…
i noticed.. jang hyuk… there was a photo of him on a magazine with really nice six-packs and muscular arms.. now we all know it was all photoshopped hahah…
sorry has nothing to do w/ the topic
I myself was adopted. I was place in a home where I was abused. I had a women who should have never have a child. She beat the shit out of me by throwing down on the ground beating me with shoes or a belt. My lovely nick names where boy or Satan, yes Satan. How the f**k can you people say well what is best… F*CK YOU..You dumb mother f*ckers..u have no idea… so leave your f*cking ignorant opinions to yourself. I lived a life in solitude with the world… being told that it is to bad you did not come with receipt so we can return you, or I can see why your parents gave you up, they hated you just like how much I hate you, or I wash my hands of you..sh*t like that… Do you know how hard that is to hear that as a child. Being raised in a all white community and not having any understanding of my culture or who I am..God I wish I could beat the F*ck out of all of you for saying that this is a bad idea..I rather live on the streets in Korea then get F*cked up by white people..I am Korean and I will always be Korean..It is a great idea that people in Korea try to adopt then send kids over seas like were a F*cking Product. It is easy for you all to live in family that have loved you or at the very least having some sort of identity foundation. We need to keep our culture and people in Korea..by starting more foundations..as far as celebrities, more people will pay attention to famous people then your average f*cking Joe besides how do you know that non of them adopted any kids..You f*cking idiot..I feel more closer to my mother who gave birth to me then the one who adopted me because that is who I am Korean…The blood in my veins..the tears, the pain..my soul is from the Land of Korea and I have so much pride..Maybe we should teach Korean people that it is OK to adopt instead of saying it is OK to sell kids like produce. Use your brains..It was myself you learned how to speak Korean, my self to learn how to cook Korean food, it was myself that made me learn the culture..let us stop destroying our culture and people and begin to hold them close and cherish these kids..I am North Korean or South Korean…I am Korean..like you and your family we are Korean…Lets start to make the change now before another child has to go through what I went through…it doesn’t matter if it is only one that gets f*cked over..One is already too many…I miss Korea…I shed my heart filled tears for Korea..the saddest thing is when you hear a Korean adoptee say I do not care about Korean Culture…it is not important to me..moron…You think you may know..but you have no idea how hard it was growing up..I envy you if you have been beaten by your parents ….I was beaten by white people..I died a long time ago..but it is my life duty to never let this happen again..and yes I am going to adopt a Korean baby…
i do hope everyone else gets to check this one out… just one of the institutions in Korea (i guess) taking care of the children and aged….
http://www.worldvillages.org/seoul4.asp
@ Yeoreum,
Thanks for posting that link. I hope others will take a loka it. These nuns are amazing people. I love them so much. I am a big supporter of nun work (LOL). I don’t know of any other people anywhere in the world who devote their entire lives, 24 hours of every day, to the care of others.
Whatever about the stars – if you’re endorsing something, you better be up for doing it yourself, or it’s just a meaningless, opportunistic gesture. And who has more financial and social resources than a star?
One either adopts a child or they don’t. And I don’t see any reason why a rich movie star or singer can’t adopt a child. Maybe they’re not of age to, but every single one of you on this site knows that none of the people in those ads are going to adopt ANY kids.
Please. It’s cheap publicity at best. “Raise awareness.” As if. Nothing’s going to change – especially in Korea – until you actually SEE someone ACTUALLY START ADOPTING babies. Yeah, it all looks nice, and people think more positively about adoption in theory as an issue that’s good if someone else does it but I can’t because my parents or parents in law would like it but I’d really do it if I could I feel so bad about this but perhaps when I’m older and maybe the next generation will be able to but we have to be realistic about…
Whatever. As with any social change, nothing’s going to happen until someone walks calmly past the picket line and calmly accepts being pelted with rocks and spat upon, until there has been some people who’ve born the brunt of social stigmatization.
THIS IS KOREA. Come on. No one wants to be the FIRST to do anything, especially something that is going to result in social stigma. Are we living in the same universe? And everyone knows this is feel-good PR, just like that bitch Kim Tae-hee faking like she gives two craps about migrant workers, even as the government STEPS UP its crackdown, uses net guns to round them up, and even has the gall to arrest and deport three of the migrant rights activists right in the middle of a demonstration. Even Amnesty International is protesting that one.
If you watch TV, any Korean with an education or a conscience nowadays is sympathetic to migrant workers’ plight. “Oh, they have it so hard” and “I am so embarrassed for my country” are words I hear all the time. But the public handwringing is just that – an act of public handwringing; you express guilt and sorrow, feel bad while watching the MBC special report, and then you forget about it and go eat Choco Pies while watching fake people who live in fake houses only 0.1 percent of the population could ever afford and shed tears over them when the coffee shop girl who spilled coffee on the chaebeol boss’s son and fell in love with him died of a mysterious disease and he got hit by a car on the way to the hospital to apologize for yelling at her.
That’s reality.
No one in Korea is going to adopt any babies, lift of finger in concrete action to help migrant workers, open their pockets to higher taxes to feed the homeless, or any of that stuff until enough responsible stars MEAN WHAT THEY SAY in relation to their star endorsements.
For as much crap as Angelina Jolie gets for adopting African babies – shit, at least they adopting them, right? And look at Brad Pitt, who is building 150 houses in the poorest, hardest hit section of New Orleans and is considering taking time off from acting, reportedly, to pursue doing such work.
Sure, they get publicity, but at least they’re ACTUALLY PUTTING THEIR MONEY AND THEIR BODIES WHERE THEIR MOUTHS ARE. I’m not asking stars to discover Marx and donate all their money to charity, but just to actually do what they say, set the examples for the causes that they endorse.
Short of that, holding babies and stroking them in pretty pictures is meaningless, since all they do is put the babies down after the cameras stop rolling, and those kids are rolled right back to the orphanages they came from.
Are some people actually smoking crack enough to believe this campaign, or any of their stars, are sincere? Perhaps their sentiments are, but that would be like me, as a star, talking about the importance of reducing fuel emissions but then driving around in a Humvee.
Yeah, it’s a good idea, but for someone else. Stop racism, but you can’t marry MY daughter. Want to feed and house the homeless, but refuse any new tax measures. Cry over the exploitation of migrant workers but refuse to write an email to one’s city councilman. And talk about how we Koreans must adopt “our” own babies (with the main argument not being that the majority of them are entering bad homes, but out of some sick desire to preserve racial/cultural purity), but then don’t do it oneself.
The road to Hell is paved with not just good intentions, but lame excuses.
Joo Ji Hoon.. ayayayayayay… ^_^
aw man now how’s Angelina Jolie gonna finish her collection of international babies?
@The Metropolitician
Funny seeing you here; I love your blog.
joo ji hoon, you look super hot!! you know.
there are so many comments to this post, so apologies if this point was already made…
i’m all for an increase in numbers of domestic Korean adoption as well as the societal de-stigmatization of adoption in Korea.
however, i find your understanding and/or wording of the issue to be quite narrow – i think this is the case with most koreans and non-adopted kyopos.
you write that “Korea is no longer a struggling poor developing country where the young and innocent are sent off to countries around the world for the hopes of a better life.”
PLEASE DO JUSTICE TO THIS ISSUE BY RECOGNIZING AND ACKNOWLEDGING THE FACT THAT KOREA LED THE WAY FOR THE WORLD IN INTER-COUNTRY ADOPTION PRACTICES, AND THAT THESE PRACTICES WERE NOT FIRST BORNE OUT OF A STRUGGLE AS A DEVELOPING COUNTRY = the practice of shipping babies out to the States and other foreign countries has to do with the past AND CURRENT racism and ethno-centrism of Koreans in the motherland (and now, Koreans in the diaspora as well).
The first children to be shipped out of Korea were the mixed race babies. They weren’t “pure” enough to stay in the country. While this is a very complex issue, nothing can justify the fact that Korea did its best to ship all of them out b/c they knew a life in Korea would spell social hell for the children and their mothers. The origins of this embarrassing practice had nothing to do with economics and everything to do with racist notions of human value.
Suggesting that Korea “had” to practice such an extreme form of intercountry adoption b/c of economic issues is simply a sad commentary on the Korean people. No country ever has to turn its children away for economic gain. Korean culture pays a lot of lip service to the idea of family, but the truth is, it values family only if it’s “perfect” – Korea has, sadly, gotten used to shipping away its “imperfections.”
@c
yeah, that’s correct…. i really now remember…
that i think was really the point of single mothers abandoning their children in the streets… in my earlier comment, you can see the link i posted for abandoned children being taken cared of by nuns…
i heard from one of the Sisters that single korean woman impregnated by an american (or foreign) soldier (during or after the war) was a big no no in the korean society. that the child to be born has no identity, especially when the child is not acknowledged by the american or foreign father… so instead of having the child aborted, the mother still gives birth to it and leaves it at the gates of the school…
and since the children have no names, i also heard that almost all children were named after the General Superior Mother Michaela Kim… so almost all graduates from that school have “”Kim”"” surnames…
jjh is soooo hot in the photo.. he looks like he might be a awesome father .. addin which hes gona be HOT father LOL..
@ The Metropolitan
Why don’t you f*cking READ? The South Korean government does not allow–BY LAW–unmarried people to adopt. Even if these celebs wanted to adopt one of these children, they aren’t allowed to. Why don’t you get your facts straight before you go and judge people with groundless accusations?
Another note to you, The Metro:
Once again, you have no facts. South Korea is a very generous country. Celebrities routinely give money and time (and I know FOR A FACT that countless non-famous citizens do the same) to various charities. Just in the news yesterday that Bae Yong Joon has donated more than 300,000 USD (I can’t rememeber the amount in Won, only in USD) to IMMEDIATELY go to purchase supplies for 10,000 relief workings dealing with the oil spill. He donated this money directly to the office specifically for this purpose rather than donating a lump sum to be used for whatever and having volunteers wait for the red tape to clear the money for use. Don’t try and sell us this sh*t that Koreans don’t give. The Koreans are wonderful people. Their cultural and societal flaws are no worse than any other country. Korean celebrities are far more upfront and public about their giving than American celebrities by far. Sure, you can accuse them of publiciity but since you don’t know that as a fact, it’s a worthless accusation.
Jang Hyuk’s baby looks so adorable.
Anger as Dutch couple give up Korean girl, 7, they adopted as baby over ‘failure to fit in’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=501281&in_page_id=1811
Popseoul, please, pretty please, read Dumpling’s post 3-up from this one.
Mahalo nui loa.
jjh looks like a mom to me holding that baby.
he’s so feminine.