Comments by "HKim0072" (@HKim0072) on "여의도 육퇴클럽" channel.

  1. It's a perfect immigrant family. Forced their kids into their new location's culture, but still teach them their heritage.
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  2. Korean government should be sponsoring language schools in Koryo-saram areas internationally. Won't be the magic bullet, but any population growth / immigration is a positive to offset the low birth rate.
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  3. Korea has a Koryo-saram special visa program. They extended it to 4th generation. Ethically the right thing to do + can do a small part for population growth.
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  4. Doesn't matter what culture, the maknae always has a tough time.
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  5. The title is weird. The baby box is dealing with <0.01% of the births in Korea. Low fertility rate is all about economics. Unwanted pregnancies is a totally different issue.
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  6. Wow, this is crazy. My dad taught 30 years in a public middle school. Every evening, he would create lesson plans and grade papers. No way would he have time to babysit these wacko parents.
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  7. I feel bad for the ones that got adopted into bad households. Really was the wild west back then. The vast majority of kids weren't abused and generally were brought up in good households. Usually, the outliers with bad experiences are the most outspoken. If you are an Korean adoptee and need in-country resources in Korea, G.O.A.'L is the best place to start.
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  8. Top tier job. Every Korean's goal to work for the biggest chaebol.
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  9. Their phone bills must have been crazy. You could buy long distance phone cards back then, but it was still very expensive.
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  10. lol, I grew up in the US. We had and still have discrimination even though we are a melting pot. Korea is one of the most homogeneous societies on planet Earth.
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  11.  @DukeMadDuck  In the US, people work for the US government in civilian jobs because they are stable and have good benefits. Now, imagine being stable, good benefits and the best pay. This is Samsung. Much harder to open a small business in Korea than the States. It's a really small market / country.
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  12. I think this is the first time I've seen a doc follow up.
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  13.  @e.r.4447  None of the files given to adoptive parents have specific information about birth parents. It's more general. My paperwork was rigged likely make the adoption cleaner.
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  14. Totally bonkers with the languages: Ivory Coast used to be a French colony, French is the official language. But, looks like the mom is fluent in English. Mom probably speaks: French, English and some Korean Samuel probably speaks: Korean, French and some English
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  15. Weirdly, the cinematography more feels like a TV drama than a typical news / doc.
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  16. Thank god I grew up in the States and not Korea. So many good schools in the US with lowish requirements. I didn't prep for the SATs at all and got a bit under 1200 (good math, bad verbal). Any reasonable SAT score and B grades will get usually get you into a decent state school.
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  17. 1- these girls are more Korean than me 2- as an ethnic Korean who grew up i the states, I understand how they feel
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  18. It's funny. My first trip to Korea was in the early 2000s. The picture quality of the video makes it old, but that's how I remember my first visit. Korea while developed still had a tinge of being "oldish". Incheon airport hadn't opened and flew into Gimpo. Itaewon was...umm, a bit weirdish. No idea why my relatives took me there. I miss the old Korea a bit.
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  19. umm, it was incredibly fair. The parents didn't have a visa. They actually let the kids finish their education and high school. I'm very liberal when it comes to immigration as an ethnic Korean in America, but Korea decision makers are a bit more strict.
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  20. Seoul to Busan is 400km. 1100km is incomprehensible to Koreans.
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  21. There are various resources now that make it way easier to search. You need a starting point though. Like, the name of the domestic agency and international agency at least. (Also, FYI...there is a group of older Korean adoptees fighting for adoptee rights in Korea for over a decade now.)
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  22. Obviously the son should be going to an arts focused school. But, only well off people can afford that. Didn’t see what city they live, but looks too small to have magnet public schools.
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  23. I think you are misinterpreting the video. Babies can be easily registered in Korea, but the parent (mother) doesn't want the social stigma attached to having a kid that young. The opposite is true. It's very hard to "unregister" a kid.
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  24.  @silviehurlimann6257  The real world isn't some utopia that needs a justification. It's reality. Damn, I'm explaining it to you why it happens with a reference point and you still are dug into your corner. Do people make comments for an echo chamber or do they actually want to listen to broaden their horizons?
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  25. Never seen a more interesting Korean couple: my relatives in Korea are not like this, lol. Really feels like the dude should have been a philosopher or professor. His wife has boundless energy. The kids seem really grounded. Feels like this is when families started having less kids. They are born around 2000. And, getting flashbacks to the Jirisan drama as the rescue is called in.
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  26. 4:15 Doesn't matter if you have sight or blind, it's impossible to find the start of packing tape unless you fold it under after last use.
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  27.  @solaris5922  It's 19. It's very atypical. Usually, they have to leave after high school and the government gives them a small amount of money to start out.
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  28. I think the range is...a bit wider. Likely, more a standard distribution curve with extreme good and extreme bad cases as the tail.
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  29. There is no silver bullet for dementia, but they recommend to keep the brain active. My Dad would memorize / recite poetry on his walks for exercise.
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  30.  @gwenmloveskpopandmore  The number is over 200K adopted overseas. Even if 20% have bad experiences, that's 40K people. That's a big number. My guess is that its less. I don't mean bad experience as culturally difficult, but getting adopted into a bad family. I've probably met / chatted online with 40-50 KADs in my life. Only a handful had bad experiences.
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  31.  @Scho-penhauer  The same reason why the Northerners and Southerners discriminated against each other after the US civil war. I can do this all day. You can make up examples without thinking and I can find examples in history.
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  32. 1- it's pretty atypical for someone over 18 (past high school) to still be in this type of housing 2- these places get government funding 3- a bit inefficient. Most of the homes are bigger. Allows for a better economies of scale 4- Orphanages / group homes are privately owned. Some use the money better than others for the kids
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  33. Even though my Korean sucks, I can hear the accent. I just assume it's south. Have no idea if there is another area that has an accent. (Googled where Gyeongju is). It's in the SE of country and near Pohang where the big steel company, POSCO, is located. Oddly, I just remember the beach in Pohang and didn't notice the industrial part.
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  34. It's important to point out the injustice of the Sakhalin Koreans. But, Korea is pretty open to all the ethnic Koreans during that time period. If you can prove your Korean heritage, you can get permanent residency. The citizenship seems to be a bit harder needing paperwork from a Korean born in Korea.
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  35.  @takahiro5528  It's total apples vs oranges. They aren't connected at all. Abortions were illegal back when this was filmed. It's conflating two subject matters that shouldn't be compared and contrasted.
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  36.  @classickdramaclips  It makes no difference what my opinion is. I'm saying that Korea decision makers are way more conservative. The 4th generation Koryoin didn't have visa status and were about to get kicked out. They passed something at the last moment. Please enlighten us on how the visa rule should work? Even in the US, you don't get visa status if you attend just school hence DACA / Dreamers limbo.
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  37. Most expensive Korean drama ever. Don't think anything will top it for a long time. I met a Zainichi while working at a Korean restaurant in the states. I'm pretty sure he was connected to organized crime and ran pachinko parlors in Japan.
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  38. Every country has unique immigration laws. I think your mistake was assuming Korea has the same laws as the US. The F-6 marriage requirements are pretty clear.
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  39. It's a crime he's not making sauerkraut. It's basically the German version of kimchi. I always like sauerkraut as a kid, but wasn't a fan of kimchi.
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  40. I'm a Korean adoptee. Met my birth family which is relatively big. My Aunt who speaks English well explained it to me. I still fully don't understand. - Mom / Dad have me. Mom / Dad break up - Dad's mother (my grandmother) sends me to orphanage - when my Mom's side of the family finds out, it's too late to get me back (something weird like someone will get arrested) - get adopted overseas What's weird is my Mom has 5 brothers and sisters. Like dude, no one could take me in? My grandma (Mom's side) was married and I have a grandfather as well. Like, they couldn't take me in? Obviously, a radically life changing moment, lol. Regardless, I don't probe any further because it doesn't bother me. It's in the past and I'm not that curious. But, yes. Was a bit simpler when I thought I was a paper slip baby. I guess that's life. Positive and negatives.
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  41. There are 2 important timelines that the TV show didn't address. 2012: There was a law implemented that you can't have a baby anonymously. A baby has a right to know its lineage. Ironically, this was passed because of the 200K international adoptions from Korea. It's not that kids weren't abandoned in the past. It was easier. The number of babies dropped off at these baby boxes was 35 in 2011, and increased sharply to 79 in 2012 and 252 in 2013 2019: Even though abortion was "available", it was still illegal. Still murky, but you can't be charged with a crime anymore. In April 2019, abortion was technically legalized in Korea as the Constitutional Court concluded that banning abortion in the early stages of pregnancy was a violation of the right to self-determination. The court viewed that abortion before the 22nd week of pregnancy should be decriminalized, saying that a woman's right to self-determination outweighs a fetus' right to life. Baby box stats from 2022: According to the Seoul Institute, Sunday, a total of 106 babies were dropped off at baby boxes last year, down from 217 in 2018.
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  42. Seems like she's an only child which is a bit rare for that time period. She's probably in her 30s which makes her a late 80s or 90s kid. Fertility rate was still in the reasonable range back then.
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  43.  @alfredhitchcock45  lol, equality / diversity laws have nothing to do with state residents getting into state schools. State taxes subsidize state colleges.
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  44. Dude - Ukraine got invaded. If any country understands, its Korea.
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  45. Things are way way different from the 1990s on birth searches. A few KADs have pushed for adoptee rights over the past decade or so. It's way more streamlined process. There is a organization called G.O.A.'L. founded / run by Korean adoptees located in Korea that helps with birth searches.
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  46. In America if you speak broken English, you are ostracized a bit. I think its pretty universal if you are fluent in a local language and understand local customs that people will always warm up to you.
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  47. The birth rate is striking to me. Even though they were lower middle class, they had 3 kids. I'm guessing this was filmed in the 2000s, so they are late 70s / 80s kids.
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  48. SKY is the top. But, still a good school.
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  49. If you visit Korea, the crosswalk buttons aren't for traffic lights, its for visually impaired people. I think I did that for months before randomly seeing it on the internet.
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  50. I think rules have changed pretty drastically since then. The building I lived in Korea was trash nazis. You had to separate everything out even snack chip bags: 비닐. Then, I had to pay for a trash bag which was basically only for used paper towel and cig butts (smoked back then). (I would freeze my food waste and then dump it every few days in the used food cans.)
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  51. State media isn't the correct term. Quasi-government agency is more accurate. The President of Korea appoints the CEO of KBS, but the CEO isn't part of the government.
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  52. Unions are way stronger in the US. And, rules are clearly delineated in the US. If students break the rules, they get suspended. Parents have very little say about it.
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  53.  @jennifervaughn1541  People can do whatever they want. Get married. Don't get married. Governments have certain requirements couples must meet and specific documents submitted to legally recognize that marriage in their country. Are you really that naive why these rules are in place? or are you pretending to be obtuse?
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  54. Avg wage in Vietnam is $300 / month. Even with a crummy Korean employer, they are making that in a week (at least). And, that's average. Unskilled labor isn't going to make $300 / month in Vietnam.
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  55. Having no translator > meeting your birth family on camera for the first time. Not sure how people do that.
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  56. 24:30 I find fault with the announcers reasoning. The adoption process in the US was cumbersome and had some roadblocks. Initially, my parents were going to adopt an African-American baby, but that was a big no-no back then. Normal adoptions took much longer. Basically, the Korean process was easier than the US one. Generally speaking, it wasn't a nefarious reason though. Interestingly, I have no idea how they found out about it since there was no internet back then.
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  57.  @DukeMadDuck  I can only speak in generalities to the US market. Companies need to offer a standard amount of benefits to be competitive in the market. Generally speaking, you care less about these when you are younger and more when you get older: 401K contribution, health / dental deductible, paid time off, maternity / paternity leave, work from home (before pandemic). Benefits can't be customized to each individual. If you want decent talent, you need to offer decent benefits.
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  58. Didn't even realize he's hapa (half). Just thought he was a white dude.
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  59.  @Lillyxxxo  lol, that sounds weird as shit since I'm an American of Korean ethnicity. Being part of a country or "Korean" in this case is understanding the culture and being part of it. Just because Korea is one of the most homogeneous societies on planet Earth doesn't mean non-ethnic Koreans can't be Korean. Now, this is a standard American viewpoint and not shared widely by native Koreans.
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  60. side note: lol, the name is a bit tricky: 14:41 Korean Social Service Inc. I legit thought it was a government agency and not a separate non-profit agency. That was my domestic agency as well! Although my back story on my adoption papers was inaccurate, my name and birthday were correct. Interestingly, my Korean parents used my name and split it in half for my siblings. My biological brother has half of it. And, my biological sister has the other half.
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  61.  @reginacamp9540  I guarantee you he has or will at some point in time.
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  62. It's always easier to understand the Korean of foreigners. They tend to overpronounce vs native speakers.
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  63. She got adopted at age 11. Actually, I'm shocked. That rarely happens. It's very very rare.
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  64.  @MichelleOfoegbu  I had to replay a few scenes. I have no idea how they got the shots live unless they lots of different cameras which is a bit unusual for docs. And, the participants were so free flowing in their actions and conversations and totally ignored the cameras. Really really good editing and camera work.
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  65. Oh boy, the backstory in the US is the crazy part.
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  66. The dude doesn’t look very Korean.
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  67.  @tobyk8125  the girls are in their mid-30s now though.
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  68. 20:20 lol, no one is going to hire this dude with cameras following him And yeah, Korea gets hot as heck. I had to bring extra t-shirts in my backpack when I lived there in the mid-2010s because I was a sweat machine.
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  69. @@Repeuh Naw, there are 400K illegals / undocumented workers in Korea now (and they are working).
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  70. Most of us have those issues. Honestly, there was no playbook back then. No internet. No support groups. I didn't learn Korea either, but my parents did take me to the Korean festival every year. I hated it except for the food. Felt very awkward. My parents both had education degrees. My Dad had a master's in education. People just didn't know the best way. (Obviously, every case is different.)
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  71. 11:56 Dude needs to chill. I learned very fast when visiting to just go with the flow of my relatives. If she wants to clean, just let her. (plus, their house was dirty as hell, lol.)
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  72. It used to be a lot worse. At least there are a few "authentic" places that stay true to the original flavors.
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  73. lol, I'm assuming the parents intended on the dual entente with the daughter's name, Gaia. In Greek mythology, Gaia is an important Goddess, basically Mother Earth (but, also mother to a lot of the important gods).
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  74. The foster care system in the US ain't peaches and cream either.
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  75. As someone living in the states, I loved when my ex made kimbap. I eat one piece and add a piece of kimchi and eat it together. But, YOU LIVE IN KOREA. You can find kimbap everywhere. When I lived there, the kimbap store (which served a much bigger menu) would have ramyun and kim bap for like $3. Or donkatsu and kimbap for $5.
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  76. It's like night and day though. Sorry, I only know the American comparison, but South Korea is the size of Indiana. While these towns are small and shrinking, the nearest "bigger" town isn't that far away. It's like a 15-20 min drive. In the US, some of the farm towns are 100km or more away from a "bigger" town. I'm sure it's like that in Canada as well.
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  77.  @classickdramaclips  The restaurant that I worked was really overpriced. Probably double what it should have been. Catered to Japanese tourists. I worked as a bartender, but it was really a service bar for the restaurant. I knew enough Japanese to tell them where the bathroom was and to get their server if they needed something. Pachinko while legal has a sideways relationship to gambling. Gambling always has a connection to organized crime. I never chatted with any of the customers, but we spoke in English because its basically my first language. Really the only conversation I remember having with a customer there. His group was 10+ people and their bill was over $1K. This was many years ago while I was attending college.
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  78.  @tobyk8125  My wager is the youngest girl married a Korean dude.
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  79. Nothing will ever beat Invincible Youth. Not sure how long they lived there, but it was an extended period of time. KBS world still has the episodes up.
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  80. Random YouTube person hasn't studied the economics of the US.
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  81.  @dani_aroundtheworld  Original poster wrote, "She also graduated from Ehwa woman’s university." (Technically, that's a typo since it's "Ewha" not "Ehwa" which is weird since the hangul looks like Ehwa.) It's a good school, just not SKY.
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  82.  @jennifervaughn1541  I am not the human version of chatGPT and here to answer questions at your pace and leisure. You really have no clue on this subject. It's shockingly bad. A US spousal / fiance visa is not permanent. IR1 is for 2 years (likely, lighter investigation / supervision). CR1 is for 10 years (likely an aggressive interview with later check-ins) I'm assuming you are talking about the K3 visa that is temporary until the other visas are approved. Like I said earlier, people make way too many assumptions with their home country rules and foreign countries rules being the same. A quick easy search shows visa processing time is 12-24 months for the US. That's why the K3 visa is necessary.
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  83. My Korean grandma lived into her late 80s. When I last saw her in her mid-80s, she was still going to the market, cooking and taking care of my grandfather. lol, and still smoking cigarettes. She fell and it slowed her down. Not sure if it was the fall or not being able to do the same stuff that ended up killing her. Somehow, my grandfather hung around for another 5+ years into his 90s even though he had Alzheimer and my aunt / cousin had to watch after him. My other grandma lived into her mid-late 90s.
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  84.  @jillthompson6110  JFC. They aren't breeding kids in Korea to sell. What is wrong with you people?
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  85.  @Alvun416  Dude - are you adopted? or just have friends that were adopted? Really sounds like the later.
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  86. lol, yes. That is way different. KBS needs a better Danish translator. Probably not too many people in Korea are tri-lingual (English, Danish, Korean).
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  87. Any bystander can tell these kids aren't going for normal adoptions and instead some weird nefarious reason. The police are basically just waiting for people to turn themselves in. There are hundreds of babies in orphanages that can be legally adopted. 34:27 Love Korean women like this. She's so angry with the ridiculousness of the system. You can tell she wants to punch someone.
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  88. Yo! you are way off topic. Korea was never colonized by the west. Korean adoptions overseas was a strategic initiative by the Korean government back then. Maybe not the best ethical decision, but a semi-rational one.
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  89. Stalin sent all the Koreans to central Asia / Eastern Europe during WW2. Pre-WW2 many Koreans fled across the border when Japan invaded / occupied Korea. Some had settled prior to the occupation.
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  90. A government run channel that can criticize its own government past policies is a healthy democracy.
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  91. Off topic: 17:33 Japchae is overrated. It's good in theory, but the noodles end up sticking together if you don't eat it immediately. Becomes a hot mess to eat.
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  92.  @kristinesharp6286  Politely, I think you should qualify things if you state them as facts. I did an extended volunteer session a 고아원 in Korea. There is a different word they use now, but I don't remember it. Did a shorter visit to another orphanage and a semi-frequent to a 3rd. Sure seems like you are going on 2nd hand knowledge (no offense).
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  93. Psst, hangover soups don't work. In the States, there was a Korean restaurant about 100m from my building. They were open in the morning and served 3 different "hangover" soups. I tried them several times. And, still hungover. Hangover "cure": - Don't drink soju - Don't drink hard alcohol - Drink a lot of water even if you are drinking even beer. Drink even more water if you are drinking soju / hard alcohol (everyone is different though)
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  94. My grandma in Korea died in her late 80s before my grandfather. She was vigorous and active, but unfortunately broke her hip and went downhill from then. lol, she was still smoking cigs when I last saw her in her early 80s. My grandfather got dementia and my aunt / cousin had to look after him. Dude wandered off a few times though.
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  95.  @veronniep  Hmm, what research? I used to hangout online and offline with Korean adoptees. Everyone had extremely normal lives. There is no true database, so any scientific random sampling can't be just "hey, we need Korean adoptee people to talk about their experiences".
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  96. JFC. When did Korean peeps become so lame? They act like their kids can't take discipline. Country has gotten soft over the past few decades. Wasn't like this before.
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  97. Since I'm Korean, I can bash my own people. There are some really cute girls. Heavy makeup doesn't really enhance Koreans looks though. The real downfall is...their bodies. Impossible to avoid the topic: we don't have bodies suited for pageants.
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  98.  @jillthompson6110  Maybe. Maybe not. If we had access to the multi-verse, we could make a comparison. Definitive answers on this subject are pretty "silly".
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  99.  @therese6030  lol, Americans are worse. Mine would always be. Are you Chinese? Are you Japanese? No, then what are you? Even though we fought a war in Korea, no Americans knew anything about Korea when I was growing up. I stayed in the same suburb town my whole upbringing, so everyone kinda knew me. Would have sucked to move around. I had most of the same friends from middle school through high school. Later, I moved to Hawaii for school and California post-college. Was the best experience as I just blended in because there are tons of different types of Asians. People just assume you are a mix and don't really probe since it's not that abnormal. P.S. I posted a picture of my YouTube profile during my 1st trip to Korea to meet my birth family years ago (I'll keep it up for a few days and then change it back to unlisted.)
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  100. Settle down. It's around 200-300 per year. The screening rules are pretty stringent. They have orphanages in Korea that get stipends. Trust me. That ain't some golden life either.
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  101. Yeah, it's a Korean law. Obviously, there is proper paperwork and documentation needed.
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  102. Although the video is about Myanmar, the friendship is what stood out to me.
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  103. She's got one of the most unique cases: 1- She was really old. Has to be <0.1% of cases someone that old gets adopted internationally at that age 2- She was adopted with her brother. Another rarity to get adopted as siblings. Probably like <1% of adoptions 3- She was sexually abused. No data on this, but an educated guess is <20%. Standards all female stats (not just adopted) are 12% for females and 1/3 of the cases are with a family member.
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  104. There are way more restrictions with checks and balances these days for international adoptions. To a degree, adoptions are almost disincentivized since there are government stipends per kid in orphanages.
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  105.  @gwenmloveskpopandmore  That dude is an extreme case. Without evidence, most us live "normal" lives. On the scale of things, I'd hate to label my normal life as traumatic.
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  106. IMO, it's going to be a tough life with (1) the mother raises the kid or (2) the kid goes to an orphanage. I think the program is overstating the choice that needs to be made. It's been 14 years since the baby box started. Would love to see some statistics ie grades etc on the kids that young mothers took back vs kids that went to orphanages. Basic stats from 2019: According to the church, 1,538 babies have arrived through the baby box and received protection since 2009. Among them, 161 went back to their birth parents. (That's a big enough sample size to draw "some" conclusions.)
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  107. I think gold is around $55M per ton. If it's all real gold and no one has stolen any, it's about $550 million worth of gold.
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  108. @@Repeuh Disagree. The trendline in international adoptions had been going lower before the 2012 law.
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  109. @@Repeuh Politely, you have zero clue how to analyze data. No one looks at just a 1 year trend. Obviously, you have no idea that it started failing (again) in the mid-2000s.
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  110.  @xx133  What? That Japan annexed Korea for 40 years?
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  111. It only applies to adoptions pre-1983 since a law was passed in 2000. Slowly, they are working on closing the loophole to include pre-1983 adoptees. The bill has been passed several times, but not approved yet. Congress will get it done at some point.
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  112.  @Crystalbomb321  I went to U of MD College Park with those scores. It's the best public school in MD. Other states have more competitive top tier schools ie the Cal system. UMCP is still a top 50 school in the US. Not sure if it's the same now, but the in-state threshold for scores / grades was lower for state residents. But, you could get a 800 on the SATs and still get into a good state school via the backdoor (and time / effort).
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  113.  @solaris5922  Foster care in the US ends at age 18 (with some exceptions). Pretty standard stuff.
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  114.  @flowrr5552  They are wards of the state. Go check where you live and see if your government houses able bodied adults under special "orphan" rules. This is standard operating procedure across the globe. When you turn an adult, you get a job and earn your keep instead of being a ward of the state. Btw, I'm not making this sh** up. I volunteered in orphanages in Korea and asked questions on how the process works.
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  115. Masks are the key for time dates. It means it was filmed between 2020-2023.
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  116.  @beot-kkot  Early '22.
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  117. This is nonsense without any disclaimers. If you are lazy and don’t study and get bad grades, there is no excuse. If you are putting in your best effort and get lower grades, it’s a different story. Regardless, anyone getting lower grades should evaluate the “why” and figure out a better plan. People don’t know how to problem solve anymore.
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  118.  @Milemione234  umm, no one is driving / taking a train from North Korea to Jeju.
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  119.  @isag.s.174  I drove 3,600 km in the US. It took us 4 days.
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  120. In the states, i got 1 drama a week on some weird channel. No one got KBS back then even if you had a satellite package,
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  121. Whenever I see cable cars, I think of the dude from the Let's Eat Dinner Together episode. Was the first episode with a guest, Sejeong. They randomly ask to eat dinner with people, but they were in a wealthier foreigner neighborhood in Seoul (Itaewon). Ended up at the house of the CEO who does the cable car projects in Korea.
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  122. lol, when not just non-Korean people need subtitles. We all need subtitles to watch and understand (unless you know KSL).
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  123.  @kristinesharp6286  I highly doubt that any organization (charity or private) is not taking the government stipend per kid. Everything you mentioned above is applicable to a smaller home as well. Just way less efficiency of resources. If orphanages in Korea are closing, it's because of less kids, not because of old people. Zero chance you can convert the buildings to a retirement home without a boatload of cash. Korea's orphanages are a combination of foster care (kids with parents) and orphanages (kids without parents).
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  124.  @kristinesharp6286  Wait, so you are talking about this without actually knowing how the orphan system works in Korea?
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  125. lol, immigrants to the US can be super racist. At best, a bit ignorant and at worst, just plain racist. 1.5 or 2nd generation are typically more liberal with their views because they grow up in the environment.
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  126.  @kimckawa  200K+ is the total cumulative number from 1950s onward. International adoptions are legal, but the criteria is pretty stringent. A couple hundred a year now down from 9K per year at its peak (mid-1980s).
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  127.  @피들스틱-y8l  Thanks. Just googled it and on the US website. Seems like some stuff is free, but not all. (Also, I'm guessing US is a bit different.) Seems like in late 2000s / early 2010s, they started the foundation and put a cohesive education plan etc.
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  128. DNA registration should never be government forced. It's an invasion of privacy.
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  129. The secret to quitting cold turkey (no nicotine) is...the same approach you need to take with a hangover. After my old boss stated, "a good hangover is almost as good as being drunk", I changed my attitude about hangovers. Just enjoy it. You feel weird. Not great. Brain is not working and in a fog. That's the same approach with quitting smoking. You have to just enjoy that your body feels weird and be ok with it. Basically, lean into the withdraw symptoms instead of trying to avoid them.
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  130. Why? The Korean government has amiable and working with Korean adoptees for the past 10+ years.
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  131. The kids look pretty Korean. They shouldn't have many issues as they blend in a bit better.
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  132. She speaks Korean like a foreigner.
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  133. Math is a VERY broad subject. I took Calculus in high school. Likely, would take me months to prep back up to that level. I barely remember my advanced geometry / trigonometry classes. Algebra is the one thing that stuck because it has a lot "simple" uses and is just about numerical relationships. I'm going to assume you don't mean that kind of math.
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  134. @@Repeuh My hangul sucks. Was 160K in 2010. Always going to be some, clown. And, do you own research. JFC.
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  135. It’s likely it was 10-15 years ago. Stuff has changed over time (to a degree). Teachers / schools have to be more responsible now. Gotta remember that Korea was still a military quasi dictatorship 35 years ago.
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  136. Only remember 1 person. She had small roles only. She was in Rooftop Prince.
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  137.  @leighGHTPPXX  We are being invaded with trillions more in GDP. Immigration to Boost US GDP by $7 Trillion Over Decade, CBO Says.
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  138. The funny thing is...Korea is the size of Indiana (or Portugal). It's not that big to travel around endlessly. SF to LA is nearly 2x longer driving distance than Seoul to Busan.
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  139.  @Hfuigbkkh  1.5x or 2x. Whatever dude. At least don't be an asshole AND CALL IT FRISCO. JFC.
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  140. This is dumb. I got in physical fights as a kid in the US for being Asian.
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  141. Settle down people. BTS traveled to the US and they pranked them by kidnapping them.
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  142. Extremely unique case. I'd say <1% of Korean adoptions happen over the age of 10.
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  143.  @rmslefttoe9024  +19 years. Basically, late 30s.
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  144.  @layloo5244  Yeah, I'm not going to survey 200K people. I feel confident it's a low percentage. The bulk of Korean adoptees are adults now. When I volunteered to speak to adoptees (really adoptees parents), it was all Chinese kids (this was years ago). There would be way more stories of people speaking out. You realize there have been Korean adoptee online groups for 10-20 years now right? It's a swag. And, a decent one.
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  145.  @yaobikuni1349  I'm 99% confident that I've done more research and been in more contact with Korean adoptees than you. Not everything is some conspiracy theory out to suppress information. People and your ilk are going to punch holes in any argument. No idea why, but it seems like there is some weird agenda to push. There is no way to execute an accurate survey. Everything is going to be anecdotal. There are media pieces done about Korean adoptees. There are current grassroots KAD organizations that exist. The biggest issues you can extrapolate is loss of identity due to transnational / transracial adoptions. There will never be irrefutable abuse statistics of Koreans vs other types of adoptions. There isn't this magic database out there (even records in Korea are scattered). Feel free to Google. There is way more information out there now vs when I started my journey in 2000ish. Last note: There are some extremely vocal and "active" Korean adoptees. They managed to push the Korean government to grant all adoptees dual Korean citizenship if they so choose. The law was passed over 10 years ago. We are one of the very few groups that actually can be dual citizens in Korea. Again, it's never been about child abuse of adoptees in these groups. But, blah: anecdotal evidence.
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  146.  @therese6030  Yeah, Korea will not help you out with the search of your friend. Pretty strict about privacy stuff. I could see 2 long shot ways: - go to Korea in person and bribe someone at the agency to give you his American name or his American parent's names - if you know his Korean name, you can check on the internet every so often. Maybe he'll have a random post somewhere I think most of my issues was growing up in an area with only white people. If I was adopted to California (San Francisco or Los Angeles) or Hawaii, things would have been way easier from a mental standpoint. P.S. A long time ago I chatted with a Korean adoptee from one of the Nordic countries. Somehow, I lost contact and never chatted again. It was pre-Facebook and the KAW yahoo group, lol.
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  147.  @Dani-zq8vv  Actually, I meant forced. The parents made a conscientious decision to send their kids to Korean public school instead of an international one. And, I speak English with a straight American accent with a bit of an East Coast pronunciation if I get careless.
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  148.  @seomei  If they are doing it illegally, than it's a crime. International adoption rules from Korea have gotten strict over time. It's why US started adopting from China in the late 1990s / 2000s.
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  149.  @seomei  Korea bureaucracy isn't corrupt. Like any bureaucracy, they can be a bit lazy / ignorant. Supporting a trafficking scheme would be highly antithetical to where the government has been in the last decade. What is your source for this illegal scheme? I've been to 3 different orphanages in Korea. None of the kids were getting adopted. Plus, the government is giving a monthly stipend per kid.
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  150. Koreans will do the same as Americans. They yell louder expecting you to understand when it's not the volume, but the actual words.
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  151. Not sure where the money was coming from. I know my parents who adopted me didn't pay that fee. Maybe it changed over time or by agency. $3K back then was a lot. Average home price was 47K. Basically, inflation adjusted to around $28K today.
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  152. It's easier now. Cigarettes used to be very cheap (also, I moved to expensive cig tax places). It was cheaper to smoke than buy nicotine gum in the past. Now, it's not even close. It's way cheaper to buy nicotine gum than cigarettes. It's like 38 cents per piece at Walmart * 20 = $7.50 a pack. Or, you can vape. Bad, but not as bad as smoking. (note: cigs are way cheaper in Korea than the US.)
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  153. Over half of the billion Silicon Valley startups have founders that are 1st or 2nd generation immigrants. Take your racist troupe somewhere else.
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  154. It "could" create a ripple effect of undocumented workers having kids in Korea to take advantage of the system. Basically, encourage the behavior.
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  155. lol, I'm surprised cheating China hasn't tried this strategy. Their soccer teams are terrible, but they have the scam BRI with the African countries. They are probably too proud to import players from Africa for the national team.
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  156. More like demerits.
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  157. Welcome to the world of Jus soli vs Jus sanguinis. US and Canada are the only advanced economic nations that grant citizenship to anyone born in the country. (apologies to Mexico and Brazil. not sure of it's economic status.)
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  158. "Kinda". Overgeneralizing, but since he's a dude, it probably impacts him a bit less. We guys seem to process it a bit different.
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  159. Takes a long time to get adjusted. They just have to stick with it. Older story: https://youtu.be/45vn5ECTqZE
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  160.  @DukeMadDuck  Btw, companies only want non-cash items as tax write-offs. Paying an expense is still cash out the door. No company frivolously spends 100 to get a tax write-off for 35.
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  161. @@Repeuh JFC. That's what a trendline is.
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  162.  @xx133  Yeah, you have real issues with truth. KOREA WAS ANNEXED BY THE JAPANESE FOR 40 YEARS. In World War 2, the US defeated the Japanese and stupidly partitioned the country with the Russians (although they did nothing to fight the Japanese). When did this so called colonization happen?
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  163.  @Joeythebunny  White people can't tell Asian people apart. We all look the same.
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  164. Even if you go to Incheon airport, you'll realize that Korean women look extremely different ie all the KAL flight attendants.
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  165.  @Joeythebunny  Dude - we are talking about your friend. I'm assuming that he's white since from the UK. I have an 81% chance of being right. I have friend from UK say when he go to South Korea why all the women look the same.
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  166.  @Joeythebunny  Dude - I literally said White people can't tell Asian people apart. We all look the same. Again, you said your friend was from the UK. 81% of the UK is white. I have an 81% chance of guessing your friend's race correctly.
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  167.  @Joeythebunny  lol, you literally have not said what race your friend was. Why do you keep talking about yourself? I never once asked about you or your background?
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  168. It's one of the few buckets of kids on the rise in Korea: +8% for mixed ethnicity +9% foreigners. https://youtu.be/jpaTAvNhgME?si=fiZYKC426NVyXJwI
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  169. ​ @stephet3683  Every State in the US has their "upper" tier public school. Sounds silly, but it's usually University of "xxx" State, but there are a lot of exceptions + different campuses. I grew up in Maryland. University of Maryland is the good school with lowish requirements. It accepts about 45% of the applicants. UNC Chapel Hill, U of Michigan Ann Arbor, UT Austin are all great schools with acceptance rates of 20% (UT is a bit higher). There is a trick though. If you do terrible in high school and get your act together. Go to a state junior college and get all As. Doesn't negate bad test scores, but wipes your high school grades clean. (from the internet) I transferred with a lousy high school record. I went back to school at Alamance Community College NC which had a transfer program to UNC-Greensboro. However, after research, I found a list of courses that transferred to Chapel Hill. I took these courses and received grades from the community college and the UNC at Greensboro. Pretty cool. I then applied to UNC-CH and received part time status. After another year and a couple of battles with the deans (who were excellent folks) I was accepted full time. I was a high school drop out with a GED. I am now a published archaeologist. Poor but happy.
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  170.  @solaris5922  If I told you that my net worth was $1 billion. It would seem like a surprise. But, then if I told you that 99.9% of the population had a net worth of $1 billion, it wouldn't be a surprise.
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  171. F' off dude. North Korea and China invaded the South.
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  172. Don't know where the video is, but there was an interview with a US Korean war veteran. Was manning the DMZ a day or so before the armistice. Was in charge of an artillery spotting and was ordered to fire on 2 Chinese soldiers in the DMZ, but he altered the coordinates to purposely miss them. Huge barrage came in (which he didn't expect) and thought they were toast. The next day, they go out to the DMZ and sees the Chinese soldiers and they are still alive. Offers them smokes and takes a picture with them.
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  173. Yeah, I'm lazy. I say appa and eomma because it's easier. My biological family doesn't care. Plus, it's more fun to eooomaaaa instead of eomeoni.
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  174. Korean police is just terrible with pre-emptive investigations. It's like they are stuck in the 1980s and don't realize computers exist.
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  175. 7:25 창피, lol. His opponent was amused then ok, time to end this.
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  176. Laws have been created because people have abused the system in the past.
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