Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Real Reality]

Would you do any of these Chuseok activities?

Proxy tomb visits
"Proxy tomb visits," in which visits to ancestral tombs are left to professional companies, have appeared. 43-year-old Kim Do-hyeong, who lives in Los Angeles, recently asked another person to visit the tomb of his parents in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province, and perform memorial services there. Some proxy companies, however, do not use the ceremony table only once, but use it for several families' remembrance ceremonies. There is no way to ensure that the proxies are doing the ceremony properly, but one can't deny it's a much cheaper option than the W5 million it would take to load the family on a plane and fly back to Korea to spend the Chuseok holiday.

Blind date marathons
34-year-old officeworker Jin Yeong-u has jotted down a Chuseok holiday timetable that reminds one of battlefield operations. In order to discard his bachelorhood, the four-day holiday has been jammed with marriage interviews and blind dates. A marriage information service matched the times, thoroughly dividing up meetings in the morning and afternoon (even taking account travel time), scheduling Jin for two meetings a day, eight in total.

Plastic surgery bonanza
Unmarried women who haven't had the time to lay atop the plastic surgery operating table are searching out plastic surgeons. 19-year-old university student Ms. Pak said she had wanted to get her eyes done, but she had kept putting it off as she couldn't go around with swollen eyes following the surgery. This extended holiday period, however, has afforded her the opportunity to get the operation and rest at home, so when she returns to school the swelling would have mostly receded. Some plastic surgeons in the Gangnam area who have been hit by the recession have made the Chuseok holiday a critical period and prepared to take in the customers, splitting their nursing staffs into two teams. "Chuseok Plastic Surgery Tribe."

Pet Memorials
People are also visiting the tombs of dead pets. 21-year-old office worker Kim Jin-I said she would go to the mountain in Paju where she buried her Yorkshire terrier that died last year, and conduct a memorial with the imported dog food her pet enjoyed and its toys. She had even prepared a portrait to be placed before the tomb.
The Chosun Ilbo
September 25, 2004
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200409/200409250016.html

[ryleeys]

Sign me up, what the hell.


Actually, we do have a small pet cemetary in the woods behind my house in the States. 3 dogs, a cat, and a ferret...

Is this just another example of Koreans being all about the surface and not the substance?

[Real Reality]

Unmarried women who haven't had the time to lay atop the plastic surgery operating table are searching out plastic surgeons.