'Birth tourism' in South Korea - Is there a similar trend in Japan?

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"If they could afford it, all my friends would go to the United States to have their babies," Kim said. "My biggest complaint about Korea is the educational system. In high school, you have to study past midnight or else you fall behind the others and can't get on with your life. And since the baby is a boy, I thought it would be a big gift for him not to be burdened with military service."

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I came across a similar article in the newspapers recently. South Koreans are trying to have their children born in the USA so that they can avoid military conscription & a hellish education system. I know that military conscription does not exist in Japan. Does a similar trend (birth tourism) exist in Japan too ☝ ?

military service

do they actually have compulsary military service in south korea? i thought it was only in north korea? ☝ the idea of students in South Korea staying up until midnight just doing hmoework...i think thats abit tough. i cant even handle to stay up to 10. -_-". if the parents think its a really good idea to goto anerica to have their children. wells yea...thats wat my mum did i was originally in hong kong. but my mum decided to goto australia becuase the education system is not that tough. some people in my school complain becuase there are just6 afew assignments to do. hahaha. compared to australia....over here the system is pretty un stressful

Of course there is compulsory military service in South Korea. They are too afraid of being invaded by the North. In fact, it seems that South Korea doesn't even make exceptions for university students, conscience objectioners, etc. like in most Western countries that have military service (eg. France, Italy, Germany...), as even a famous actor was recently caught for not doing his time, and even money or fame apparently could not help him.

Japan on the other hand doesn't have military service, as it does not officially have an army.

I find it strange that Koreans should want to be born in the States to avoid military service, as they would automatcially get the American nationality, and South Korea, like most Asian countries, does not accept dual nationality. That means that they could not go back to Korea without a visa, and if they change back to Korean nationality, they would still probably have to do their time. What's more they could be conscripted in the US army in case of war (more likely than a war between North and South Korea).

Hello, nice to meet you all

my first post.

Maciamo:

That means that they could not go back to Korea without a visa, and if they change back to Korean nationality, they would still probably have to do their time. What's more they could be conscripted in the US army in case of war

Even if they change back to Korean nationality, there is a way they can avoid their mandatory service. By living outside Korea, meaning they can't visit Korea till they are over the age of 35 or more I think. And about the US army, wouldn't they be conscripted if they joined the army which they don't have to?

Oh yess!! This is Korean tradition !! -historically whenever this small country met foreign invasions,these immoral upper class always became sellouts or ran from the national defence jobs but the lower class people always remained and fought for-our proudable history!!!
(This is very well known in Korea-many of the Korean parliament members did not serve for the military consription by using expedient method,so did their kids and relatives. EVn some of the military generals' kids used this immoral ways-we Koreans know about that very well but there has been no law to prevent and rightly treat these persons)

The best solution for this-US immigration should not allow the VISA for these Koreans who visit there for their kids -but US is smart -they give nationality to the persons who born in the states to adopt many more people for US national national interest -they are smart and these Koreans are nothing but just opportunists.

I really hope this trend would get reported many more frequently by foreign medias so these Koreans would have no place to stand (I know these silly persons are more sensitive to the old Korean confusious mind sets while they always claim Korea is not good place for living and compare it to the US hypocritly -but interestingly when they are under the situation to do their basic national duty -they would do everything for avoiding ,but when they can find some good things that they can receive from Korea -they try to be regarded as Korean-when they make some business between Korea and USA-they need Korea )


I knew one Korean man whos overstayed puposely in the states to simply avoid military service,but this men looked very funny -he always tried hard to explain good things about Korea in front of his non Korean friends.

This kind of men do not deserve to do that ,if he really has pride about Korea -he must have served for the military first -(he always told Korean system is bad to raise kids decently and military service is not the thing that humans can do-but I finished military service and it surely has some good points while it required some of the hardships at the same time- whatever the situation goes,this kind of men always try to seek for justification or excuse for his unproudable self inferiority complex)

Korea is the country where the people do not know the real national pride but we are very smart about making selfish oppotunities.

This is my emotional comment-so please understand-I know this will not happend-
I hope US government will conscript these Koreans for the military and forcefully deploy them to the Korean DMZ.

When the Korean war happend -send them on the front battle place with North Korean assaulting troops.

Well, said, Stupidumboy ! They are a collective disgrace to the nation. I just read in the papers today they have some plan to partially discontinue compulsory military duty in 2008 in the specialized areas of the military (please correct me if I misread), and that would be both possible due to high-tech warfare. To train well qualified and motivated people to do a professional job of national defense is a workable plan imo. It just doesn't make sense in this age of human history to extract free duty from its citizens... Compulsory service is the closest a country can come to the collectivised economy of the old communist states which proved a major failure. Of course in times of war, there should be a general draft, but in peaceful times, shelling out 24 months of young men's productive yrs is rather wasteful on a national scale, isn't it ? But until then, no one should abuse the loop hole... the gov, admin, legislation and justice departments should cook up a working system to close the loop hole, track down all dodgers, and and extract a penalty such as extended service or serving equal time in the jails AND enforcing unequal opportunity such as blocking serving in any capacity of public service, and applying selectively higher income tax. It has to pay to violate.

My personal opinion on Korean military pros and cons.

Pros
1.Broadening experinces with meeting various kinds of persons.

(I liked it most although sometimes communicating with the stubborn and agressive troop members
was frustrating but I am sure it will be helpful when I would meet these kind of persons in society later )

I met various kinds of persons in military from the ex-gang member,high school drop outs to the kids from the rich family,graduates good univs etc everybody has their good and bad characters but afterall we were on the same boat and mix like one family.

2.Pre-Experincing the working system

Although things are changing in Korean society now -we cannot deny that our society working system has roots traced back from the military ordering ranked system.
I am not defending out social system is positive but pre experincing this system will help me much for better grasping of and adapting myself to the culture of korean working places.

3.Good for health

we have regular life inside of the garrisson.
Exercise rightly,eat properly ,so I could maintain very good health easily in the military. Miss the military meals very much .

Cons

1.Violence experincing from the seniors and irrational mind raising.
-whatever the reasons-the violences that often to be seen inside of the Korean barracks cannot be justified and the Korean military working system tend to raise wrong idea about communicating with lower ranked people.

2.Inefficiencies in the opportunity cost view.
Probably there's no perfect military to put the best combination in terms of arranging each soldiers to the best jobs and positions that they can do ,in Korean military -I think the allocation system(for the new soldiers's jobs) usualy ignore each new soldier's ability and characters.

I agree with Mr. Lexico

Korean students should stop studying or working for the military service in their golden age ,we should slightly shift into recruiting system. But before changement,we should stick to this system faithfuly and try to structure and operate this system most efficiently as we can do.

I nod with agreement with stupidumboy,
couldn't have explained it better!~

Mahoujin Tsukai said:

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I came across a similar article in the newspapers recently. South Koreans are trying to have their children born in the USA so that they can avoid military conscription & a hellish education system. I know that military conscription does not exist in Japan. Does a similar trend (birth tourism) exist in Japan too ☝ ?

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I've never heard of birth tourism in Japan, but some parents let their kids into local international schools like American schools or Chinese schools.

A J pop singer, Utada Hikaru, is the one who went to an American school, maybe in Tokyo.

I know, I know, its an old post, sorry, but it was interesting to me.... how did I miss it??

I have a friend in Seoul, who was in NZ during the time he was supposed to do military service, then his wife got pregnant, and he had to come back to Korea, when he went back to NZ they wouldnt allow him back into the country because Korea demanded that he come back to do his military service. He still hasnt done it 3 years later, and isnt allowed to leave Korea until he does. What makes this a bit strange to me, is that his father was actually a translator for the US army....

I have another friend avoiding military service by becoming a doctor. Apparently though they still have to be stationed in some out of the way town for the equivalent length of time that they would normally be doing military, and work for free as a doctor. Something like that...

Then I have known Koreans that have stayed away from Korea for more than 10 years, and their parents dont want them to go back for military service.

I have heard, but one of the koreans will have to confirm this for me, that if the mother has voluntarily done military service (its only compulsory for the men) that if she has a son, he doesnt have to do military service. Is this true? Of course if your mother is tough enough to do military service, it might be a bit shameful to avoid it.

On the other hand about the studying.... I know so many kids in Korea that go to school every day, then they will finish around 3 or 4 and go to a Hagwon (learning institute) for 3-4 hours either studying english, or perhaps getting extra tutorial in one of their subjects that they are not exceeding in, after that some might go to a musical or sports lesson. Its not strange to see kids still walking around in their school uniforms at 11pm.
One of my students goes to bed at 2am every morning, and wakes up again at 7am to do it all over again. She is exhausted when it comes to her saturday classes, but her grades are exceptionally high.

Then when it comes to holiday time, they dont get to relax and hang out with their friends, instead they are shipped off to English camps, or homestays in another country! In the long run, it is producing highly intelligent people, but I just feel sorry for them, it seems like they miss out on their childhood.

Anyway thats my two cents worth... how much extra schooling are kids in Japan expected to do? The fact that kids in Japan and Korea and other countries are expected to go to school on saturdays is enough in my opinion!

Kara_Nari said:

how much extra schooling are kids in Japan expected to do ?

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I think the maxim that the faster horses get the whip applies here, for they are promising !

The fact that kids in Japan and Korea and other countries are expected to go to school on saturdays is enough in my opinion !

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I thought schools in Japan didn't have classes on Saturdays. Even the less industrialised Korea have begun experimenting with the 5-day week once per month. There was an interesting article analysing increasing juvenile delinquincy in Japan on the reasoning that no more schools on Saturdays was putting undue work load on the kids on M-F's. Although I find the logic failing (It's not the workload causing the violence, it's the loneliness and feeling of abandonment from their parents that is causing frustration, anger, and violence in the kids), it does assume as fact that Japanese schools are closed on Saturdays.

Oh maybe they dont in Japan? I remember watching a programme in elementary school, on Japans schooling system, and being told how lucky we were not to have to go to school on Saturdays, and that we had nice green fields to play in.

I think that if the students get to have saturdays off, a large majority of parents will just introduce some extra subject for the poor things to study. Its so sad.
Im currently teaching a 4 year old, so now the family has 3 english teachers. I dont even think I could write a whole sentence when I was 4, but this little girl is expected to, as well as still trying to grasp the korean language.

Personally, I think that parents have to learn to be a little more lenient. Have faith that your children can still be brilliant, in their own time.

Hows that 8 year old korean boy who is the MEGA genius? He's already doing masters papers or something ridiculous like that! Do you know anywhere where that article can be read in english? I only saw it in the korean newspaper. The odd thing there is that the parents didnt actually push him to do anything, they let him live his life how he wanted to, and he actually chose to be super boy. Yes, he's only 8.

I dunno, i always thought compulsory service was generally a good thing, that it built some character, allowed blokes to make new friends and learn new skills, boo-hoo so a little of your time is taken, but if britain had it, maybe so many people wouldnt be out of work, or have a feeling of being lost without a calling in life, me included.

If i had had compulsory service, i might have finally found that spark in me that would ignite some kina ambition to be something, what really bothers me is I DONT HAVE A FRIGGIN CLUE what the hell i wanna do with my life.

I'm too much of a wuss to willingly sign up for proper military service, but even a year or two of compulsory service might have given me what i need to find my calling in life :S.

Plus it woulda been something to do.

But thats just my humble personal take on it, i know fine MANY people, a year or two of mandatory service is un-emaginable, for various reasons.