Oh! that's not to bad, try three weeks!

let me know too;

This does not sound like a good thing for them to do culturally or from a health care perspective. You would hope that they would be teaching these kids to accept themselves as they are instead of encouraging them to change their looks with unnecessary surgery. All surgeries carry risk, particularly from the use of general anesthetic. I applaud the Koreans focus on education, but have very serious doubts about this type of motivation. It also can not be healthy psychologically for these students to have their parents basically telling them that they should have surgery to improve their looks. Parents should be sending the message to their children to be happy with who they are and that it is what is inside that counts. To teach a lesson that the superficial matters so much is not something I can agree with.

@JS in SD ~ This has actually been a problem since the Korean War, children back then in the 40's and 50's very much wanted to Americanze their appearance. It was written about extensively for quite some time, and MASH even did a few episodes confronting the issue.

But it unfortunately is NO different than what is happening here in the US. The number of teens going under the knife for elective cosmetic surgeries has exploded and keeps getting bigger. And the surgeries aren't for corrective issues like pinning back the ears or fixing a huge nose that is contributing to health and social issues. We're talking about teens under the age of 20 (which defines a teen) getting breast implants, tweaking a nose to remove a bump only s/he sees, or upturning it into something pert, liposuction and much more. And we're also talking about permanant makeup, eyebrows, lip color, eyelash extensions and a lot more. And parents are paying for it, rewards for good grades, for birthday, graduation presents, etc.

So, SK isn't any different than the US in this regard. Which is unfortunate for both societies. It would be nice if people grew up accepting and loving the bodies they were given (although there is a time and place for cosmetic surgery) but we live in a society that is airbrushed perfection and that's what our children are raised with.

the titanic did sink.

richard, +1 for best comment ever

Don't know where you're from, M Estrada, but breast augmentation was the graduation gift of choice about 35 years ago. A few opted to have nose jobs too. Many chose neither.

I recently ran into two women who were absolute beauties in high school, college, and beyond. Their faces are now frozen in time from lip injections and Botox. They look like caricatures of themselves. Plastic surgery absolutely ruined their appearance.

Kevin, when you get older you may want some nip and tuck. It gets scary when you look into the mirror and see the real stuff. but, you think you are 20 years younger. Also depends on where you are in life. It only hurts for a little while; Enjoy your life however you see yourself. Oh, a turkey neck, watch out, the holiday is coming closer.

she would know - both apply to her

she would know - both apply to her

Hahahahha! Good one!

And that they invented StarCraft?

Well, yea, and maybe our cabbage crops.

Ummmmm... Did you read the part where this article was about SOUTH Korea? It is the North Koreans that hate our guts. Generally speaking South Koreans don't have a problem with us. Especially since our presence in Korea is what keeps N. Korea from invading them (again). I have known a lot of really lovely people from South Korea and none of them expressed a hatred for the U.S. or the West.

Fuzzy you have lost your mind. Take it from a soldier that lived their for several years. The South Koreans love the fact that we keep North Korea from destroying them, and they hate our guts at the same time. I cannot count the times I heard someone yelling for us to go home in a single year. They have huge demonstrations several times a year, and we all get confined to base. Often they throw rocks, sticks, bottles, and moltave cocktails at our gates. The only reason they do not demand that we leave is that they know North Korea would kick the crap out of them in less than 3 hours.

Why not? Because only ignorant, uneducated people submit themselves WILLINGLY to general anesthesia - WITHOUT good reason.

What happened to personal choice. If they want to be beautiful let them. You don't know what psychiatric problems they have, and how much of a positive impact this surgery might have for them.

Wayyyy down low.

Thanks for the post. I had no idea a person could help for such a small amount of money. I will definitely look into this.

Always fun to see a self-hating Westerner realize that we Westerners have not cornered the market on things shallow and worthless. Welcome to the Human Race. You don't have to come from a specific hemisphere to be narcissistic or shallow. These seem to be universally human traits - not to say all humans have them, but all human societies have individuals like this within them. And not all Westerners value looks over everything else, thank you very much.

Nice attitude.

By the way, what is Quantum Math?

I likeum roundeye kemosabe.