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And find a partner, and enlist your son in the military while you’re at it!

• deadbeeves 3y ago
  It's OK. They have mandatory military service, so he wouldn't have a choice on the matter anyway.
  • trompetenaccoun 3y ago
    But almost no kids to join with 0.70 births per woman. They should think of a foreign legion visa. Or maybe the digital nomads could be made to join.
• rayiner 3y ago
  Oh they don’t want you to marry anyone, then you might stay. Also—on average—Koreans aren’t super cool with marrying foreigners. A close family friend was only able to marry an American on condition of them not having kids.
  • gedy 3y ago
    > A close family friend was only able to marry an American on condition of them not having kids. Koreans aren't having kids to begin with, maybe they don't want to break the trend.
  • rorroe53 3y ago
    It seems South Koreans in aren't comfortable with having kids in general. It's much better to dedicate your life to making shareholders of Samsung, or some other soulless megacorporation richer. That's how you get one of the world's lowest birth rates.
    • mensetmanusman 3y ago
      An economy based around subsidizing rectangles of entertainment for the world didn't turn out to be sustainable in the end.
      • ClumsyPilot 3y ago
        The rest of the West is subsidizing ‘stock numba go up’ and is on the same trajectory, with falling birthrates. Koreans are just good at what they do, always ahead of the curve.
  • KMag 3y ago
    In contrast with Thailand, where a surprising number of their leading movie and TV actors (and actresses... have we fully retired that word yet?) are biracial. My extended family in Bangkok keep complimenting my three half-Thai kids on the bridges of their noses being high enough to keep designer sunglasses up off of their cheek bones. (Edit: at first, I was confused about "big nose" being a compliment. Most Western fashion brands don't account for/have special models for East Asians typically having higher cheek bones and smaller noses, resulting in sunglasses that never quite fit and hover above the nose.) I think part of it is economic, but I like to think a good part of it is that Thailand has been a meeting ground for centuries. First, it was a meeting place between Chinese and Middle Eastern merchants, and later Europeans when they started to cut out the Middle Eastern middlemen. Still later, Thailand was a neutral buffer state between British (Burma/Myanmar) and French (Vietnam) empires. Neither Britain nor France attempted to take over the buffer state, as it would have caused the other empire to immediately invade. Thailand was never strong enough to have full control over its affairs, but managed to turn that into its niche as a neutral middle ground.
    • deleted 3y ago
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  • nebula8804 3y ago
    With Korea having one of the worst population pyramids of all the countries in the world, this problem will solve itself one way or another eventually.
  • whycome 3y ago
    > Koreans aren’t super cool with marrying foreigners. A close family friend was only able to marry an American on condition of them not having kids. This was a family request? Or government?
    • deleted 3y ago
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  • yongjik 3y ago
    I think your view of Korean culture is outdated, probably because your Korean friend is second or third generation Korean American. (Many of those people tend to keep facets of Korean culture from when they emigrated. Considering that Korea in the 1950s was little better than Afghanistan now, the difference can be huge.) In 2022, 8.7% of all marriages in Korea were between a Korean and a foreigner. Modern Koreans are not strangers to the idea of marrying foreigners. * Also, if I were you, I'd advise your friend to tell their family to get lost. I did see parents objecting to their kids' marriages, but telling them not to have kids is a weekend K-drama level of shitty behavior.
    • rayiner 3y ago
      First generation, but older, so maybe it's changed. But Korea's foreign-born population is just 4.4% as of 2022. So what are the nature of these marriages? Would it be socially acceptable for a high class person? > lso, if I were you, I'd advise your friend to tell their family to get lost. I did see parents objecting to their kids' marriages, but telling them not to have kids is a weekend K-drama level of shitty behavior. Marriages are between families. They get a say, especially when inheritances are at issue.
      • deleted 3y ago
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      • yongjik 3y ago
        > Would it be socially acceptable for a high class person? One nice side effect of Korea's tumultuous 20th century is that old social hierarchy mostly collapsed, because everything burned down. Hyundai's founder was famously a son of a peasant. You could be literally a great-great-great-grandson of the last king and your friends would be like "Oh really? Cool story bro." So I don't think the question is applicable at all, unless we're talking about a handful of ultra-riches - who knows what they are thinking.
        • famouswaffles 3y ago
          "High" or "Low" class to probably most of the visitors here has nothing to do with royalty anyway. The old social hierarchy burned down yes but that doesn't mean a new one didn't rise up to take its place. Important government officials/Politicians, Chaebols, Celebrities, the wealthy. These are the new High Class and who the question was aimed at.
  • ClumsyPilot 3y ago
    > A close family friend was only able to marry an American on condition of them not having kids Wow. To me this sounds worse than not being allowed to marry at all.