Everyone has to make their own personal decision about whether or not to have kids and the man featured in this article decided raising kids with limited financial resources was not for him:

Shin Ji-hoon, 33, went to the hospital for a vasectomy in February. An office worker, he is in his fourth year of marriage. Shin and his wife had given up on the idea of children for financial reasons, and he thought he needed a more reliable form of birth control. “I’m not very well off myself, and I figured that I would end up leaving my kids in an even worse position. After deciding not to have a child, I settled on a surefire way of eliminating the possibility of pregnancy,” he said.Shin felt sorry about having had his wife get prescriptions for “morning after” pills. These days, he says, vasectomy often comes up in conversation with people he knows. “When I hang out with friends my age, we often have debates about whether it’s even possible to raise kids,” he said.

Vasectomies once symbolized the South Korean government’s policy of decreasing the birthrate. During the 1960s, the government covered the cost of vasectomies as part of its family planning program; in the 1970s, it gave men who had vasectomies an advantage in bidding for apartments.But the government did an about-face when South Korea’s birthrate tanked. At the end of 2004, the government even eliminated coverage for vasectomies under national health insurance. But despite government policy, the story of this man in his 30s who rejected the idea of having children and decided to have a vasectomy reflects the harsh truth of South Korean society, in which people can’t have children even when they want to.  [Hankyoreh]

You can read more at the link, but falling birthrates are sign of a modernizing country.  So unless South Korea wants to import a huge amount of immigrants that could lead to social problems down the road they are going to have to look for ways to reduce the costs of raising kids to really improve the birthrate.

This is basically a scam which I am not sure how the Korean government stops people from being stupid and wasting away money like this?:

Choi Eun-suck was lonely. The 39-year-old administrator at a high school in Seoul wanted to get married but women weren’t impressed by his job. In early 2014, Choi turned to a matchmaking agency that specialized in international marriages. It showed him a computer profile of an eligible girl. She seemed both sweet and sophisticated.

Within weeks, Choi was at Incheon International Airport holding his passport and a round-trip ticket to Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. His father warned him not to be hasty.

He should have listened. Choi met the woman whose profile he liked. She was 13 years younger than him. A few days later, he showed for a ceremony that was supposed to seal their betrothal.

It turned out to be his wedding. Before he knew it, Choi was a married man.

Choi returned home in late April 2014 to start the legal procedure to bring his wife to Korea. In June, she called to say she had been raped by a taxi driver and was pregnant. She didn’t know who the father was: Choi or the rapist.

In March 2015, Choi’s wife changed her story. She knew who the father of the baby was – and it wasn’t Choi. She had never been raped. She wanted a divorce.

Choi tried to have the marriage annulled but failed. He is now legally divorced, which puts him in a bad place in terms of getting remarried in Korea, where divorce is still stigmatized.

“People tell me to marry a Korean woman next time,” says Choi, “but no Korean family will approve of me. They’ll assume that my ex-wife divorced me because I physically abused her.”

And he feels cheated. The Kyrgyzstani woman was never sincere and Choi paid his matchmakers 23 million won ($20,079), which doesn’t include the money he sent his wife every month for a year. He believes he’s owed the matchmaking fee back. He is awaiting a final appeal in the case.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but someone has actually started a International Marriage Victims’ Center to counsel and provide support to people burned by international marriages in Korea.

If you were one of the people affected by Amazon’s glitch preventing some servicemembers in South Korea from placing orders, it has since been fixed:

Most servicemembers can again place orders with Amazon after the online retailer’s website blocked some shoppers from completing their purchases for several days.

With the holidays fast approaching, U.S. soldiers and others who use the military postal system in South Korea were shocked to find themselves unable to order from Amazon.com.

The problem was limited to certain zip codes and appeared to mainly affect South Korea, although problems also were reported in Italy.

Servicemembers quickly formed a Facebook group to share information and coordinate their response. Many reached out to Amazon’s customer service department only to be told repeatedly about the company’s shipping policy and restricted items.

But the online retailer was listening, and the problem was fixed for most on Sunday afternoon. [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

Protesters hold mock funeral for President Park Geun-hye in central Seoul. Hundreds of thousands here, by some estimates. pic.twitter.com/KhKarghn8D

— James Pearson (@pearswick) November 12, 2016

Facing the U.N. Memorial Cemetery in Busan that honors U.N. troops killed in the 1950-53 Korean War, crew members of the South Korean Navy’s destroyer Wanggeon observe a minute of silence at a naval base in the port city on Nov. 11, 2016, in this photo provided by the Republic of Korea Fleet Command. Organized by the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, the Turn Toward Busan ceremony was simultaneously held in 21 other countries that fought for the South Korean side against invading North Korea under the U.N. flag in the three-year conflict. (Yonhap)

Here is the latest on the THAAD deployment to South Korea:

Lim Sang-hwan, who has an anti-THAAD banner across the front of his cellphone shop, says he thinks up to 90 percent of his neighbors are worried that the system’s high-powered radar will pose a hazard.

“It’s being deployed too close to where families live,” he says. “I have a 4-year-old son and I don’t want him harmed.”

Since the South Korean government chose the site in neighboring Seongju County in September, it’s created tension in the adjacent communities, says Shin Sang-won, a taxi driver here.

“A lot of people argue about it,” he says. “I don’t talk about the missiles unless my passenger brings it up. I don’t want any problems.”

Shin says he personally supports the new defense system and doesn’t believe speculation about the potential effects of the radar emissions.

Anger over the THAAD deployment, which is expected to take place by the end of 2017, has focused on officials in Seoul. Locals say they feel they were left out of the decision-making process and their concerns have not been addressed.

Both the U.S. and South Korean militaries have tried to calm local concerns. They’ve said the THAAD system’s radar emissions meet safety standards and there won’t be any adverse effect on the surrounding communities.

Still, local farmers don’t want their produce to be known as THAAD grapes or plums, according to Kim Hee-soo. The supermarket manager, 45, has joined recent demonstrations against the missile shield system, which so far have been peaceful.

“If these missiles are brought to the area, I expect the protesters might turn aggressive,” she said.  [USA Today]

You can read more at the link, but the protesters vow to demonstrate and block the roads of the identified THAAD site when the missile defense system arrives.  With a politically weaken Park Geun-hye it is going to be interesting to see how this all plays out next year.

This really shows how fed up the Korean people are with President Park that the Korean left was able to get far more people to this weekend’s rally than what they were able to get to attend the anti-US beef protests in 2008:

Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in Seoul on Saturday and into the early hours of Sunday, in numbers not seen in decades, for the latest massive rally to demand President Park Geun-hye’s resignation over the growing scandal involving her confidante.

Over 1 million people joined the candlelight rally at Gwanghwamun Plaza in downtown Seoul as of 7:30 p.m., according to organizers. Police said 260,000 people gathered, which surpasses the 170,000 they had originally expected.

It is the largest rally to be held in South Korea this century to date, comparable to one that took place in 1987. Over 1 million Koreans took the streets at that time, leading the then Chun Doo-hwan military regime to accept their calls to adopt a direct presidential election system.

The previous record was set in June 2008 when 80,000 people, based on police calculations, turned out for a rally in Seoul against the government decision to resume U.S. beef imports. Organizers then put the number at 700,000.

Police said they deployed some 25,000 officers in riot gear on Saturday to prevent potential violence.

Major streets near Gwanghwamun were packed with citizens — men and women, young and old — holding banners that said “Step down Park Geun-hye!” and chanting slogans against the current administration.

Three opposition parties joined the rally, along with some potential presidential hopefuls, including Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon of the Democratic Party.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but it appears that Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon is the one on the Korean left trying to best position himself as their standard bearer if Park does in fact resign.

Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.

Tried answering as many questions during my @QuoraSessions! Check out my thoughts on NK, Harvard, writing, and more! https://t.co/tkOmTEJ78X pic.twitter.com/Iu3UVvnAec

— Jieun Baek (@JieunBaek1) November 10, 2016

Artistic director Cha Eun-taek, a key suspect in the influence-peddling scandal involving a close friend of President Park Geun-hye, arrives at the Seoul Central District Court on Nov. 11, 2016, to attend a hearing to review the legality of his detention. Prosecutors have sought an arrest warrant for Cha over suspicions that he and Park’s confidante Choi Soon-sil meddled in state affairs and gained financially using Choi’s ties with the president. (Yonhap)