Dieting is a hot issue among Korean women. From teenagers to pregnant women, every
woman’s ideal body shape is tall and slim, the so-called ‘S Line’ body that appears on
mass media: TV and magazines. But dieting is not only of interest to women but also to
middle age men. A considerable number of Korean men have large midsections as they
often have “samgeopsal” (Korean Style BBQ Bacon) and “soju” (a 20% locally made
vodka tasting alcohol) to end their busy working day.

This great interest in dieting by Koreans has become well evidenced statistically. In a
survey of interest in dieting, Korea took first place among the Asia Pacific region. AC
Neilson, a Marketing survey company, conducted an online survey on this topic involving
9485 respondents from 13 countries in the Asia Pacific region. Ninety one percent of the
Korean respondents (men - 88.3%, women - 94.1%) replied that ‘they have a plan to go
on a diet’, reflecting their strong desire to lose weight.

According to a survey, Korean women in their 20’s have come close to having well-
proportioned figures resulting from a dieting fever that started in the 90’s. Women have
longer legs and smaller faces, and compared to 7 years ago, they are 6cm taller and breast
size has become 0.5cm smaller. Their bodies have evolved to respond to the prevailing
beauty trend; tall and slim body. Despite these body evolutions, people are still
unsatisfied with their bodies and only 12% of respondents showed satisfaction with their
body shape.

Scientists (Sociologists?) state that Koreans are more interested in dieting because of the
Western cultural influence. In step with the Western standard, beautiful women have to be
slim. Being slim also reflects one’s ability of self-control and career success. As these
influences pervade society, a perception of beauty spreads and women become interested
in making their bodies accordingly.

In addition, this dieting fever has widely disseminated to the public through mass media:
sports & entertainment newspapers, Internet and TV. In 2003, Korean Womenlink
reported an analysis of people’s appearances as seen in 82 programs from one of the
major TV channels during prime time. The outcome demonstrated that 966 women were
‘slim built’ which represented 42.3%, compared with 1,114 women for ‘medium built’
(49.2%).

This great interest in dieting has not only greatly influenced the diet industry but also
related industries such as cosmetic surgery, fitness centers, and dietary supplements.
Since the start of the dieting boom in 1992, the industry has expanded over 40% each
year and become over a $100 billion market.

Some people criticize the standard that women with a 24 inch waist line weighing less
than 50 kg as beautiful is nonsense made by society. There is a saying that goes,
‘someone’s past can be forgiven but being ugly and fat can’t be forgiven’, which makes fat
people feel guilty. This type of negative attitude in our society indicates that we need to
amend the perception of beauty and prejudice.

Koreans have been in ‘a fever of winning a lottery jackpot’ since the lottery was
introduced in 2002. Often times, we were treated to the curious sight of people forming
long line-ups to purchase lottery tickets. The biggest jackpot to date has been US$40.7
million, whereas the biggest draw prize prior to the introduction of Lotto was
US$100,000. Since this new type of gambling called Lotto offered a jackpot about 400
times bigger than the usual draw prize, it was exciting to Koreans who had never
experienced such a big prize. Since its inception, Lotto has become a much talked about
issue at work and at home.

Due to the concerns over excessive stirring up of people’s gambling fever, the government
began to regulate the jackpot increase amount. Despite the changes in the prize amount,
the general public’s greatest desire still is to win a jackpot. An Internet portal site
conducted a survey of “what people most desired in 2006”. The result was interesting as
58% of respondents chose winning a ‘Lotto Jackpot’.

For people who are not familiar with this game, Lotto is a game in which people
choose numbers and the winning numbers are confirmed by television drawing (people
can choose 6 numbers between the numbers 1-45. If the 6 numbers chosen matches the
winning numbers, the player wins the first prize. Statistically, the probability of winning
the first prize is 1 in 8,145,060, and interestingly it is said that 80% of Lotto buyers are
male.

People usually buy Lotto on a weekly basis and admire jackpot winners. It is common
for people who win a Lotto jackpot to typically cease their employment and move overseas due to the constant calls from relatives and charities asking for support. On the one
hand, Lotto has brought the dream of ‘perpendicular upturn’ and become the symbol of
sudden fortune, but on the other hand it has also brought a number of negative side-
effects.

We often hear stories about people who sacrifice their entire salary and retirement payout
on Lotto, ending up losing everything, or committing suicide when their Lotto dream was
over. Sometimes friendships or relationships are broken while some even sue each other.
An incident happened not long ago that made the news. A person, ‘A’ advised his
girlfriend to buy a Lotto ticket using the numbers he had chosen. Later on, A discovered
his numbers matched the winning numbers. However, A’s girlfriend told him no ticket had
been purchased, but A did not believe her. He took legal action against her blaming her of
taking the prize away from him. In the end, it was confirmed that no winning ticket was
purchased for that draw.

A citizen organization criticized Lotto for its speculative nature and carried out an ‘Anti-
Lotto movement’. Communities raise their concerned voice over the negative side-effects
of playing Lotto. In response to these concerns, the government reduced the first prize
monthly rollover number to two times and introduced a lottery legislation containing a
restriction on the first prize amount. Subsequently, the jackpot winning fever has chilled
down a bit but we still hear a saying: Owing to the ticket buyers’ sighs, the Korean

peninsula temperature rises a few degrees every Saturday when Lotto numbers are drawn.

According to a survey, 20% of Lotto buyers purchase tickets to fulfill their dreams. The
Lotto winners’ ancestors (25%) are first among the things that appeared in their dreams
followed by their numbers. Generally, Koreans believe dreaming about pigs is the
ultimate symbol of fortune, but the power of Lotto has replaced this long traditional
symbol.

Thanks to the Lotto fever, many new businesses have sprouted that attempt to predict
potential winning numbers. Telephone services as well as fortune-tellers are also doing
good business providing similar information. A book was also published about predicting
Lotto winning numbers based on mathematical probability and statistics.

South Korea’s birth rate has plunged to the lowest in the world at 1.08 (as of 2005). The
birth rate, which has become a national controversial issue, started declining slowly from
the 1980’s and dramatically dropped from the start of the new millennium. When asked
for their opinions in a survey, Korean opinion leaders responded, “The low birth rate
needs urgent attention”.

Birth control is considered a private matter discussed only amongst couples, however, it
is not a personal matter anymore in Korea since it is often affected by social factors. There are reasons why there is such a low birthrate: rising cost for education and childcare.
Unpublished statistics shows that it costs USD $200,000 to raise a child. An average
double income family with a monthly income of USD $3770 (based on 2006 records by
The National Statistical Office) has to sacrifice their entire income for 4.5 years to make
this amount of money. For single income families, it would take 8-9 years. Given that,
low birthrates are an inevitable consequence of high education costs. The cost of
housing factor is also playing a part. According to reports of The Korea Institute of
Public Finance, 44% of workers do not own their own property. This indicates that in
addition to high education costs, housing costs also influences the low birth rate.

It is difficult for Korean women to break through the workforce and many company’s
negative attitude over women having children is also known to influence a low birth rate.
In the workforce, including government organizations, women can be fired on the grounds
of being pregnant or giving birth. Many cases have been reported to the ‘Telephone of
Equality’, a civil social body. For example, a woman working for a hair product company
was fired at the end of her maternity leave. In another case, a woman who had a position
of team leader and worked for the company for 10 years, found that she was demoted to
an ordinary staff position after returning to work from her 3 months maternity leave.

The government has taken various measures to boost the birth rate. The Ministry of
Gender Equality and Family has offered a creation of 60,000 jobs for women by 2010,
and incentives for employers that provide childcare assistance, and maintain the
positions for women after their return from maternity leave.

There are different opinions in taking fundamental measures to resolve this issue. The gist
of the idea proposes a safe and happy environment for children to be provided with and
the needs of a Gender equality culture to take place. OECD findings from a survey on
birth rates across 20 countries indicate that gender equality is the most influential factor
in people’s minds concerning having children. The findings demonstrate equal job
opportunities between men and women, and the level of post-maternity women
discrimination are key aspects in dealing with this issue.

Unfortunately, it is hard to predict when gender equality will really take place in South
Korea as Confucianism influences on the nation has made it a very male dominated
society. Therefore, it is forecasted Korea’s birth rate will remain low for some time.