The Korean War
On July 25th, 1950, 75,000 North Korean soldiers crossed the 38th parallel and invaded South Korea with support from the Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin and China's Mao Zedong. Fearing further communist expansion in South East Asia, President Harry Truman deployed American soldiers to aid the South Korean Army with the intention of "stopping communism". With the help of General Douglas MacArthur, President Truman switched objectives from stopping communism from spreading to freeing North Korea from communism. On March 1951, General MacArthur sent a letter to House Republican leader Joseph Martin stating
"...My views and recommendations with respect to the situation created by Red China’s entry into war againstus in Korea have been submitted to Washington in most complete detail. Generally these views are wellknown and clearly understood, as they follow the conventional pattern of meeting force with maximumcounterforce, as we have never failed to do in the past. Your view with respect to the utilization of theChinese forces on Formosa is in conflict with neither logic nor this tradition.
It seems strangely difficult for some to realize that here in Asia is where the Communist conspirators haveelected to make their play for global conquest, and that we have joined the issue thus raised on thebattlefield; that here we fight Europe’s war with arms while the diplomatic there still fight it with words; thatif we lose the war to communism in Asia the fall of Europe is inevitable, win it and Europe most probablywould avoid war and yet preserve freedom. As you pointed out, we must win. There is no substitute forvictory.
With renewed thanks and expressions of most cordial regard, I am
Faithfully yours,
Douglas MacArthur"
The president wanted to avoid war with China with all cost but General MacArthur did not. When the letter was leaked, President Truman fired General MacArthur due to insubordination. In July 1951, President Truman, North Korea, and South Korea started to negotiate an armistice which took two years to establish. As a result in July 27, 1953, the cease fire was agreed and the 38th Parallel became the border between North and South Korea.
References:
Korean War. (n.d.). History.com. Retrieved May 15, 2014, from http://www.history.com/topics/korean-war
People & Events: The Korean War. (n.d.). PBS. Retrieved May 15, 2014, from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/peopleevents/pandeAMEX58.html?utm_source=tumblr&utm_medium=thisdayhistory&utm_campaign=June+25+Korean+War
MacArthur, D. (n.d.). Letter from Douglas MacArthur to Joseph W. Martin (Tokyo, 20 March 1951). . Retrieved May 15, 2014, from http://www.cvce.eu/content/publication/1999/1/1/2dee57c6-52f6-4ef7-87dc-489085a99b78/publishable_en.pdf
Post Korean War Reconstruction
After the Korean War, South Korea was one of the poorest country in the world. It was said that the war-torn country had a $64 per capita income. South Korea received a lot of foreign aid from the United States, an estimated "$60bn in grants and loans to South Korea between 1946 and 1978" which benefited the country (Tran, 2011). South Korea pursued their own economic recovery and did not take any advices from the United States. Park Chung-Hee, President of South Korea from 1961 until his assassination in 1979, focused on building large economic businesses to boost the country's GDP rather than taking the United States' advice to focus on small and medium sized companies. As a result, some of the leading companies today in the world are Samsung and LG. Now, South Korea has grown to be the world's 12th largest economy according to Roehrig (2013).
Because of the post war reconstruction, South Korea modernized into a developed country. Since their constant economic growth and success, the country is able to provide services and accesses to their citizens. One of the services and accesses that will be focused on is cosmetic surgery in which South Korea is famous of.
South Korea has been reputedly known as the hotspot for cosmetic surgery in South East Asia for its price, quality, and satisfaction. But what's the other explanation for people wanting to go under the knife?
South Korea's expectation of beauty is much like the rest of South East Asia's: having fair skin and a slim body and small face. According to Bissel and Chung (2009), body-image perception in South Korea has been influenced by Westernization. Because of Korean entertainment success, Hallyu, "cosmetic surgery was first promoted alongside the original Hallyu staples of film, TV and music, through the Korean celebrities featured in these products" (Davies & Han, 2011, p. 146). In South Korea, the country has modernized and industrialized around western values and body image is centered around western ideals. For example, women in Korea have been found to be dissatisfied with their body and practice variety of dieting techniques to stay thin. Other than dieting behavior, Korean women also place importance on appearances. They have the desire to have same facial appearances of western women. One of the surgical procedures they go through is having surgery on their eyelid "for the purpose of making their appearance more like 'mainstream America'. " (Bissel and Chung, 2009).
Below is a link of two before and after eye widening surgery
American media is becoming popular all over the world and as a result, South Korea, including other countries, are influenced by westernization through media. Entertainment figures often advertise the beauty of looking slim and having a beautiful face which in turn, effects the perception of beauty amongst the viewers. Bissel and Chung (2009) did a study on television exposures on viewers concerning "perceived pressure to be thing and cultural perceptions to be attractive." They found out that the television program that was viewed the most was America's Next Top Model and Project Runway. South Korea ranks Number 1 in non invasive, also known as non surgical, cosmetic surgery. See Figure 2. Non invasive surgery is a surgical procedure that does not penetrate the body by cutting or piercing the skin. Such surgery includes face lifts, botox, chemical peels, eyelid surgeries, and laser therapy to improve skin tone. Invasive surgery on the other hand, requires penetration and piercing on the body. Some procedures you may recognize are breast augmentations, nose reshaping, and liposuction.
Women sacrifice a lot to achieve beauty even if it means that their body will experience pain. Seager (2009) explain that women suffer a lot by going under the knife to achieve beauty. These procedures include the cutting, shaping, stapled, tucked and manipulation of the body. Americans spent approximately $13b on cosmetic procedures in 2006 (Seager, 2009). The biggest cosmetic markets in the world exists in the United States with an estimated earning amount of $50b in 2007 compared to Japan, $30b in the same year.