Korean Job Discussion Forums

[richardlang]

Group Resists Korean Stigma for Unwed Mothers

SEOUL, South Korea � Four years ago, when she found that she was pregnant by her former boyfriend, Choi Hyong-sook considered abortion. But after she saw the little blip of her baby�s heartbeat on ultrasound images, she could not go through with it.

As her pregnancy advanced, she confided in her elder brother. His reaction would sound familiar to unwed mothers in South Korea. She said he tried to drag her to an abortion clinic. Later, she said, he pressed her to give the child up for adoption.

�My brother said: �How can you be so selfish? You can�t do this to our parents,� � said Ms. Choi, 37, a hairdresser in Seoul. �But when the adoption agency took my baby away, I felt as if I had thrown him into the trash. It felt as if the earth had stopped turning. I persuaded them to let me reclaim my baby after five days.�

Now, Ms. Choi and other women in her situation are trying to set up the country�s first unwed mothers association to defend their right to raise their own children. It is a small but unusual first step in a society that ostracizes unmarried mothers to such an extent that Koreans often describe things as outrageous by comparing them to �an unmarried woman seeking an excuse to give birth.�

The fledgling group of women � only 40 are involved so far � is striking at one of the great ironies of South Korea. The government and commentators fret over the country�s birthrate, one of the world�s lowest, and deplore South Korea�s international reputation as a baby exporter for foreign adoptions.......................................

The rest of the article at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/08/world/asia/08mothers.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print

[djsmnc]

Now here is something in this country that genuinely needs to be fixed. That and the fact that companies try to avoid hiring pregnant women. More love needs to be shown to the agasshis

[Koveras]

Sure it's a nice story but what about in ten years when Korea has thousands of single mothers on welfare and all the socially aware music artists are writing shitty albums to promote awareness of the plight of single mothers? I HATE those songs.

[djsmnc]

[Julius]

[snoopdrew]

And it's going to get worse...

Unmarried Korean women in late 20s rises to 59%
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2009/10/123_53265.html

Government has to do more to take the stigma out of being a single mom... that'll motivate more pregnant unweds to choose to keep the baby than to terminate.

Even the report concedes that helping the married ones isn't enough.

[Julius]

[Reggie]

I'm surprised it was her brother and not her baby daddy dragging her to the abortion clinic.