This is the stroke order for writing Korean vowels.
Friday, 15 March 2013
Thursday, 14 March 2013
multicultural marriage
Unwed mothers call for Park's attention
Better social safety net needed, they say
By Kim
Young-jin
Kim Jung-in (an alias), a public relations officer, knew it would be difficult to raise her one-month-old daughter alone. But determined to try, she ignored family members who pressured her to opt for adoption, just as they had told her to have an abortion.
“I was confident I could get a job and take care of her on my own,” recalled Kim, 36, of the turbulent period four years ago. “But I needed time to find work and persuade my parents I could do that.”
Time and understanding, she would find, were not on her side.
Kim met her boyfriend while working abroad for a Korean firm. They wanted to marry but her family would not give their blessing without meeting the prospective groom first. After they learned she was pregnant, the man convinced her to quit her job, saying he could support her.
But the man’s business fell through, and with scant resources, he convinced Kim to return to Korea unmarried. Despite promises to follow her, he vanished.
She ended up in Busan with her parents, who shunned her for giving birth out of wedlock – a common response in Korean society. “My mother cooked meals for me, but not for my baby,” she recalled. “My father did not accept me as part of the family. I ran out of places to turn to.”
Kim may have been alone, but her story is not uncommon in a country where stigmatization and a lack of social services force many women to choose between abortion and adoption. While single mothers have raised their profile in recent years, groups supporting them say that the government must provide them with a safety net and begin to set straight a painful history.
The issue may be set to go under the spotlight as Korea prepares for its first female president, Park Geun-hye, who has promised to improve conditions for women. Support groups say whether Park pays attention to single mothers will be a bellwether of how thoroughly she plans to follow through on this pledge.
As yet, the President-elect’s team has not made specific policies for single mothers and they are not mentioned in its policy book of over 300 pages.
“Right now, they are included in the policies for single parents,” said an official from the policy committee of Park's Saenuri Party, requesting anonymity. “Once the transition committee is launched, it is possible that the issues of unmarried mothers can be discussed there.”
Entrenched attitudes
The path for Kim to keep her child was precarious. In need of work, she jumped when she heard of a job in Seoul. But with her family refusing to babysit, she made what she felt was a necessary gamble, leaving the child in the care of an adoption agency, with the promise that if potential adoptive parents were interested, she would be called.
She soon received a text message from a social worker informing her that an adoption had been finalized. “I cried a lot that I wanted my baby, but I was told it was impossible. After fighting for three months I got her back.”
According to Statistics Korea, some 2.1 percent of babies were born outside of marriage last year, the lowest rate among member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and well below the OECD average of 36.3 percent.
Some 90 percent of Korean babies adopted internationally are from single mothers, seen as representative of the social pressures facing unmarried, pregnant women.
Han Seo Seung-hee, who works with the Korean Unwed Mothers Support Network (KUMSN), believes the attitude stems from deeply ingrained Confucian mores. “Society thinks they are immoral,” she said. The attitude prevails in spite of concerns over the nation’s aging population. Moreover, social stigma against mothers who have children out of wedlock is underpinned by the specific expression in the Korean language referring to them, ‘Mi-hon-mo’, often used as a pejorative term.
Lee Jung-hee, a 31-year-old teacher in Gyeonggi Province, said people treated her differently when she decided to give birth to her son after breaking up with her boyfriend, the father.
“You can’t tell people at work, or you have to lie to them. It’s like you are a criminal,” she said.
Even at the hospital, where she received care under her insurance program, the doctor “suddenly turned really cold” when Lee said the father might not be present at birth. Other hospital officials asked why she did not go to a care center for single mothers.
“That’s when I realized, if you become a single mother in this country, it doesn’t matter if you have a family, if you have a good job or education, or who you are. You just become the bottom of society. People treat you like crap,” she said.
Han said on the national census, if a woman reports being unmarried, it neglects to ask whether she has children. Others point out that existing cash support reinforces the separation of families and institutional help rather than empowering women to raise their children alone.
According to numbers compiled by Truth and Reconciliation for the Adoption Community of Korea (TRACK), the government provides around 1 million won for each child in a family group home facility or an orphanage; and 250,000 won for every child in foster care. Korean families who adopt are supported with a 100,000 stipend. But single parents, including unwed and divorced parent receive 50,000 per month.
Lee, the teacher, didn’t want to be institutionalized in a group home.
“If you stay in such a place for a year, or two, or three, how do you ever start over again? Someone like me ― a professional ― if I get a little support from the government, I can get back on my feet and I am willing to work,” she said.
The monthly support for single parents falls well short of considering unexpected circumstances, Lee learned. Soon after birth, her son was diagnosed with Hirschsprung's disease, a disorder of the abdomen that required surgery.
Through support from KUMSN, she has been able to hire a babysitter, but her son’s frequent illness poses a problem for her work schedule.
Kim Jung-in, the public relations worker, said stigmatization does not stop with the mother. “Most families don’t want to have get-togethers with single mothers and their children,” she said.
Reconciling the past, looking ahead
Jane Jeong Trenka, head of TRACK, said the high percentage of international adoptees that comes from unwed mothers binds the two groups together.
International adoptions from Korea picked up pace during the country’s rapid industrialization under the military dictatorship of Park Chung-hee, the late father of President-elect Park. Many such adoptees return to Korea to learn about the country or search for their birth parents.
Some scholars suggest that like other exports of human resources during that era, babies, especially those born out of wedlock, may have been seen as a tidy source of profit.
“The unwed mothers and their children are woven inextricably into the history of Korea's development,” said Trenka, an adoptee.
She said the stories of the families of adoptees reveal a “complete lack of a social safety net and of course patriarchal practices which include intense discrimination by the society and the government against single mothers and their children.”
In recent years, grassroots awareness campaigns have helped bring the issue to light. Last year, the National Assembly passed an amendment to the Single Parent Law that by 2015 will ban adoption agencies from owning facilities for unwed mothers, which activists say will reduce the influence of the agencies in the women’s decision-making process.
Groups such as KUMSN say now is the time for the government to devise policies to shore up services.
The advocates say efforts must go beyond Park’s promise to increase cash support from 50,000 won to 150,000 won and bolster housing for single parents.
Activist Han said the government can start by collecting accurate statistics on unwed mothers, because it is believed many women do not report their status. KUMSN urges the incoming administration to consider diversifying housing options, tightening regulations over adoption practices, and providing better education for pregnant, unwed women on their options.
The government should mobilize a public awareness campaign to educate society on unwed women, the group says.
Lee, the mother, says the reasons women like her and their children should be treated as normal members of society are simple.
“I pay taxes, first of all. And then every child has the right to be happy,” she said.
“I gave birth to a kid, and he is going to grow up and work for this country. We can raise these kids and make them happy. People need to be open minded, not just for me, but for the children.”
http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2013/03/180_127687.html
 |
| Park Geun-hye |
Kim Jung-in (an alias), a public relations officer, knew it would be difficult to raise her one-month-old daughter alone. But determined to try, she ignored family members who pressured her to opt for adoption, just as they had told her to have an abortion.
“I was confident I could get a job and take care of her on my own,” recalled Kim, 36, of the turbulent period four years ago. “But I needed time to find work and persuade my parents I could do that.”
Time and understanding, she would find, were not on her side.
Kim met her boyfriend while working abroad for a Korean firm. They wanted to marry but her family would not give their blessing without meeting the prospective groom first. After they learned she was pregnant, the man convinced her to quit her job, saying he could support her.
But the man’s business fell through, and with scant resources, he convinced Kim to return to Korea unmarried. Despite promises to follow her, he vanished.
She ended up in Busan with her parents, who shunned her for giving birth out of wedlock – a common response in Korean society. “My mother cooked meals for me, but not for my baby,” she recalled. “My father did not accept me as part of the family. I ran out of places to turn to.”
 |
|
Choi Hyeong-sook, an unwed mother and activist,
plays with her son at a
park in central Seoul, Sunday. / Korea Times photo by Kim Young-jin |
Kim may have been alone, but her story is not uncommon in a country where stigmatization and a lack of social services force many women to choose between abortion and adoption. While single mothers have raised their profile in recent years, groups supporting them say that the government must provide them with a safety net and begin to set straight a painful history.
The issue may be set to go under the spotlight as Korea prepares for its first female president, Park Geun-hye, who has promised to improve conditions for women. Support groups say whether Park pays attention to single mothers will be a bellwether of how thoroughly she plans to follow through on this pledge.
As yet, the President-elect’s team has not made specific policies for single mothers and they are not mentioned in its policy book of over 300 pages.
“Right now, they are included in the policies for single parents,” said an official from the policy committee of Park's Saenuri Party, requesting anonymity. “Once the transition committee is launched, it is possible that the issues of unmarried mothers can be discussed there.”
Entrenched attitudes
The path for Kim to keep her child was precarious. In need of work, she jumped when she heard of a job in Seoul. But with her family refusing to babysit, she made what she felt was a necessary gamble, leaving the child in the care of an adoption agency, with the promise that if potential adoptive parents were interested, she would be called.
She soon received a text message from a social worker informing her that an adoption had been finalized. “I cried a lot that I wanted my baby, but I was told it was impossible. After fighting for three months I got her back.”
According to Statistics Korea, some 2.1 percent of babies were born outside of marriage last year, the lowest rate among member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and well below the OECD average of 36.3 percent.
Some 90 percent of Korean babies adopted internationally are from single mothers, seen as representative of the social pressures facing unmarried, pregnant women.
Han Seo Seung-hee, who works with the Korean Unwed Mothers Support Network (KUMSN), believes the attitude stems from deeply ingrained Confucian mores. “Society thinks they are immoral,” she said. The attitude prevails in spite of concerns over the nation’s aging population. Moreover, social stigma against mothers who have children out of wedlock is underpinned by the specific expression in the Korean language referring to them, ‘Mi-hon-mo’, often used as a pejorative term.
Lee Jung-hee, a 31-year-old teacher in Gyeonggi Province, said people treated her differently when she decided to give birth to her son after breaking up with her boyfriend, the father.
“You can’t tell people at work, or you have to lie to them. It’s like you are a criminal,” she said.
Even at the hospital, where she received care under her insurance program, the doctor “suddenly turned really cold” when Lee said the father might not be present at birth. Other hospital officials asked why she did not go to a care center for single mothers.
“That’s when I realized, if you become a single mother in this country, it doesn’t matter if you have a family, if you have a good job or education, or who you are. You just become the bottom of society. People treat you like crap,” she said.
Han said on the national census, if a woman reports being unmarried, it neglects to ask whether she has children. Others point out that existing cash support reinforces the separation of families and institutional help rather than empowering women to raise their children alone.
According to numbers compiled by Truth and Reconciliation for the Adoption Community of Korea (TRACK), the government provides around 1 million won for each child in a family group home facility or an orphanage; and 250,000 won for every child in foster care. Korean families who adopt are supported with a 100,000 stipend. But single parents, including unwed and divorced parent receive 50,000 per month.
Lee, the teacher, didn’t want to be institutionalized in a group home.
“If you stay in such a place for a year, or two, or three, how do you ever start over again? Someone like me ― a professional ― if I get a little support from the government, I can get back on my feet and I am willing to work,” she said.
The monthly support for single parents falls well short of considering unexpected circumstances, Lee learned. Soon after birth, her son was diagnosed with Hirschsprung's disease, a disorder of the abdomen that required surgery.
Through support from KUMSN, she has been able to hire a babysitter, but her son’s frequent illness poses a problem for her work schedule.
Kim Jung-in, the public relations worker, said stigmatization does not stop with the mother. “Most families don’t want to have get-togethers with single mothers and their children,” she said.
Reconciling the past, looking ahead
Jane Jeong Trenka, head of TRACK, said the high percentage of international adoptees that comes from unwed mothers binds the two groups together.
International adoptions from Korea picked up pace during the country’s rapid industrialization under the military dictatorship of Park Chung-hee, the late father of President-elect Park. Many such adoptees return to Korea to learn about the country or search for their birth parents.
Some scholars suggest that like other exports of human resources during that era, babies, especially those born out of wedlock, may have been seen as a tidy source of profit.
“The unwed mothers and their children are woven inextricably into the history of Korea's development,” said Trenka, an adoptee.
She said the stories of the families of adoptees reveal a “complete lack of a social safety net and of course patriarchal practices which include intense discrimination by the society and the government against single mothers and their children.”
In recent years, grassroots awareness campaigns have helped bring the issue to light. Last year, the National Assembly passed an amendment to the Single Parent Law that by 2015 will ban adoption agencies from owning facilities for unwed mothers, which activists say will reduce the influence of the agencies in the women’s decision-making process.
Groups such as KUMSN say now is the time for the government to devise policies to shore up services.
The advocates say efforts must go beyond Park’s promise to increase cash support from 50,000 won to 150,000 won and bolster housing for single parents.
Activist Han said the government can start by collecting accurate statistics on unwed mothers, because it is believed many women do not report their status. KUMSN urges the incoming administration to consider diversifying housing options, tightening regulations over adoption practices, and providing better education for pregnant, unwed women on their options.
The government should mobilize a public awareness campaign to educate society on unwed women, the group says.
Lee, the mother, says the reasons women like her and their children should be treated as normal members of society are simple.
“I pay taxes, first of all. And then every child has the right to be happy,” she said.
“I gave birth to a kid, and he is going to grow up and work for this country. We can raise these kids and make them happy. People need to be open minded, not just for me, but for the children.”
http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2013/03/180_127687.html
NEWS(Filipino baby finds hope here )
IT REMINDS MY SON KYEONGSOO
may cardiovascular desease din sya noong 2mos. palang sya, awa at paghihirap ang nakikita ko sa anak ko, salamat sa mga bagong teknolohiya at sa magaling na surgeon, at lalo na sa pedia yonsiesuakwa nakadiscover ng maaga sa sakit nang aking anak kung nahuli siguro kami baka wala na sya ngayon. pagmaysakit sa pamilya ang hirap, wala kang karamay, salamat sa maunawain at mapagmahal na asawa kahit ganun pa man, nagawa ng maaga ang operasyon at gumaling...mahirap tumira sa ibang bansa, kailangan lang ng lakas ng loob sa pagharap ng mga problima wag agad susuko, ipaglaban, at magdasal po tayo. walang imposible.
Filipino baby finds hope here
 |
| Alexa Cantillon, left, a 26-month-old Filipino baby, suffers from cardiovascular disease. Catholic priest Father Choi Young-sik Matthias, right, president of the Joseph Clinic in the Philippines, arranged free heart surgery for Alexa who is to arrive here soon to undergo the procedure. / Korea Times |
By Kang Hyun-kyung
A 26-month-old baby from the Philippines is to arrive in Korea soon to undergo cardiac surgery at the Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital in southern Seoul.
“Alexa Cantillon, her mother and a translator, will fly to Seoul as soon as Friday,” Rev. Father Choi Young-sik Matthias told The Korea Times over the phone on Tuesday.
Father Choi, president of the newly established Joseph Clinic, has helped the underprivileged and urban poor in the slums of the Philippines. He helped arrange Alexa family’s medical trip to Seoul.
Other Korean good Samaritans also supported the initiative by arranging for volunteers to finance the baby’s accommodation for their one-month stay in Seoul and paperwork needed for visas and the operation.
“There is a possibility that their Seoul trip could be rescheduled a few days later because of paperwork. But we are pushing to make it happen as scheduled on Friday,” Father Choi said.
Alexa has a hole in her heart. This has concerned her young parents who reside in Malabon City, a deprived settlement located in the northwestern area of Manila.
Her father is a laborer and her mom a housewife. The couple barely make ends meet, and couldn’t afford to finance this expensive surgery for their only child.
In the midst of their despondency over their inability to afford the cost of treating their baby, Father Choi’s timely intervention proved to be an amazing relief for the worried couple.
Choi began serving as head of the clinic based in Malabon City since its inception in January.
Father Choi, former president of Catholic Medical Center in southern Seoul, contacted the hospital to ask for help. He soon got the nod from the hospital.
But there were still minor works that needed to be ironed out to make Alexa’s Seoul trip possible. She needed a place to stay for a month with her mom and the Filipino translator and they also needed air tickets.
Father Lee Moon-ju, the president of the Joseph Clinic in Seoul, said he promised to sponsor their Seoul trips after hearing of Alexa’s suffering.
“On Jan. 26, I met Alexa and her mother in Malabon after attending a mass to celebrate the opening of the clinic in the Phillippines,” the Catholic priest said. “Father Choi, who arranged the meeting, told me that the little girl would need to get surgery in Korea.”
Lee said he learnt that all preparations were made except air tickets and minor paperwork.
“I instantly accepted the offer to pay for their air tickets. Her mother was so happy and grateful,” he said.
Staffers of the clinic also plan to help the little girl’s family. Choi Bok-hee, a pharmacist of Joseph Clinic Seoul, cleaned one of her apartment rooms to accommodate the Pilipino visitors.
“Actually we had two or three options. Plan A is I would like to accommodate Alexa’s family and the translator. If they don’t like my place, we also have a room to offer another apartment near my place,” Choi said.
“The remaining problem is finding a translator. The Filipino translator who is to accompany Alexa and her mother from the Philippines is a social worker. She has to go back to her job in two weeks,” Choi said.
Alexa and her mom should stay here for 20 to 30 days after the surgery as her doctor will want to monitor the baby’s recovery.
“We are looking for a volunteer translator who can speak both English and Tagalog,” Choi said. The pharmacist said she would contact volunteers who can speak both languages.
baby korean name and meaning
Ae-Cha Korean- loving daughte
r
Bon-Hwa Korean - utmost glory, most glori
Bong-Cha Korean -superior daughter
Chin-Hae- Korean truth
Chin-Hwa Korean most prosperous
Chin-Sun Korean composed of characters meaning "precious..
Choon-Hee Korean spring girl
Chul-Moo Korean weapon of iron
Chung-Ae Korean righteous love
Chung-Cha Korean righteous daughter
Chung-Hee Korean righteous
Chung-Ho Korean righteous lake
Dae-Ho Korean great
Dong-Sun Korean goodness of the ea
Dong-Yul Korean passion of the east
Duck-Hwan Korean virtue returns
Duck-Young Korean virtue is unchanging
Eun-Kyung Korean composed of elements meaning "silver" an.
.
Hae-Won Korean composed of elements meaning "grace" and..
Hak-Kun Korean literate root
He-Ran Korean grace and orchid
Hee-Young Korean pleasure, prosperity
Hwa-Young Korean composed from characters meaning "beauty..
Hyo Korean final duty Hyo-Sonn Korean daughterly and gentle
http://babynamescountry.com/origins/korean_baby_names1.html
r
Bon-Hwa Korean - utmost glory, most glori
Bong-Cha Korean -superior daughter
Chin-Hae- Korean truth
Chin-Hwa Korean most prosperous
Chin-Sun Korean composed of characters meaning "precious..
Choon-Hee Korean spring girl
Chul-Moo Korean weapon of iron
Chung-Ae Korean righteous love
Chung-Cha Korean righteous daughter
Chung-Hee Korean righteous
Chung-Ho Korean righteous lake
Dae-Ho Korean great
Dong-Sun Korean goodness of the ea
Dong-Yul Korean passion of the east
Duck-Hwan Korean virtue returns
Duck-Young Korean virtue is unchanging
Eun-Kyung Korean composed of elements meaning "silver" an.
.
Hae-Won Korean composed of elements meaning "grace" and..
Hak-Kun Korean literate root
He-Ran Korean grace and orchid
Hee-Young Korean pleasure, prosperity
Hwa-Young Korean composed from characters meaning "beauty..
Hyo Korean final duty Hyo-Sonn Korean daughterly and gentle
http://babynamescountry.com/origins/korean_baby_names1.html
PORORO PARK (JAMSIL LOTTEWORLD)FOR KIDS
MY KIDS LOVE PORORO.
noong open ng pororo park sa lotteworld jamsil nag enjoy much ang aking kids kasi libre w/ snacks pa from sub-health center geoyo songpagu,seoul.
As the weather is getting really chilly and Christmas holidays are approaching, many of you are looking for new indoor playgrounds to keep your kids active and find some entertainment during the festive season.
Jamsil Pororo Park is a nice place to visit if you are in the area with little kids and don’t want particularly to go and spend a full day in a huge amusement park like Lotte World.
MAGIC SHOW ENJOY MUCH
The entrance fee is quite expensive, so try to check on the internet first, if you can find any discount. Websites like http://www.coupang.com propose sometimes special deals.
The park is usually crowded during week-end afternoons; during the week, be ready to see many nursery and kindergarten classes queuing for the carousel and the little train.
We’ve been also surprised that for the pricy entrance, all the attractions are running only on particular time schedules and are stopped for long breaks 
If you want your child to play with the Moon sand, don’t forget to book for the session as soon as you arrive. It may be difficult to find vacancies…
If you want your child to play with the Moon sand, don’t forget to book for the session as soon as you arrive. It may be difficult to find vacancies…
- 10:00 AM – 8:00 PM
- Adults – 10.000 KRW
- Children – 20.000 KRW (under 12 months – free entrance, 12 – 18 months – 50% off)
- Jamsil Station, Subway Line 2 & 8, Exit #4 (Direct access from station)
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