birthtour

Have you ever seen this kind of ad? This is the ad, which makes such an issue in Korea and even in the U.S.A these days. So-called ‘Birth Tour’, in which a pregnant women flies to a foreign country and gives birth to her baby, is becoming a really thorny issue to deal with.

The agents are providing lots of information about the birth tour or birth expedition, and say it can bring great benefits to the baby which otherwise couldn’t even dream of.

With the increasing interest in birth tour, we’ve decided to do some research in it and do some writing about it. When we decided on this article, we also carried out a survey with 28 students in English Composition class at KNU. For they are going to be some part of the important work force in Korea in the future and as who are intelligent and interested in Education and English, which appears to be some reasons for the birth tour, we thought their ideas would bear some meaning.

Here are the results.
Q1. Would you like to go on a birth tour when you are (or your wife is) pregnant?	Yes ; 5 people, No ; 20 people, Not sure ; 3 people
Q2. Have you heard about someone the went on a birth tour around you?	Yes ; 3, No ; 25
Q3. How much money do you guess it will cost to go on a birth tour?	Less than 5000000 won ; None 5000000 – 10000000 won ; 2 10000000 – 15000000 won ; 7 15000000 – 20000000 won ; 13 Have no idea or more ; 6
Q4. What do you think is the most important reason people go on a birth tour?	English ; 3 Education ; 10 Exemption from military service ; 11 All of them ; 4

*'U.S.A. baby' boom*
	Attaining U.S. citizenship once indicated one's privileged status, sans the worry of being the target of social recrimination some day. That was before the public became sensitive about the wealthy's self-arrogated privileges. In other words, it was before many Koreans became angry with the rich and powerful, who monopolize ways to save their sons from military service. A U.S. passport is the surest guarantee of this exemption.
The democratization of recent years has taught the nation that anyone aspiring to serve in high public posts must complete his military service and then ensure his son serves, despite the notorious hardships of barracks life. Prominent candidates for public office, including the presidency, have had to swallow bitterness after being exposed for saving their sons from tough national service, among other reasons. For some ambitious men and women, therefore, possessing a U.S. passport is both something coveted and cursed. Against this backdrop, it is intriguing that thousands of young women are going to America every year only to give birth. Costly "childbirth expeditions" have increased so exponentially among expectant Korean mothers that they finally grabbed the attention of U.S. immigration authorities. Ten South Korean women were detained last week in Los Angeles for interrogation on alleged visa violations. A broker was charged with supposedly arranging their trips - package tours including transportation, accommodation, hospital, maternal care, etc. Shameful as it may seem, these women are dead serious about ensuring that their children, born on U.S. soil, will become American citizens. No doubt their sons won't have the duty to defend one of the world's most endangered countries. Other benefits include qualifying for inexpensive U.S. public education. Some may even imagine an unthinkable scenario: Washington will evacuate American citizens if war breaks out here. Why spare $20,000 if one just doesn't care about pride - personal or national?

*'Birth tour' agents avoid arrest*
The Seoul District Prosecutor's Office yesterday, decided not to arrest the four tour agents who arranged for Korean mothers to give birth to their children in the United States. Although the police asked prosecutors to seek arrest warrants for the tour agents Tuesday, the prosecution said those who organized the "birth tours" could not be charged of violating the Medical Service Law since the services rendered to the Korean mothers were outside the country.
"It is illegal to make a profit by introducing and organizing medical services for patients in Korea," said a spokesman for the Seobu branch of the Seoul District Prosecutor's Office. "However, since the medical services were arranged abroad, the prosecution does not have jurisdictional rights over the case," he added. However, prosecutors said they would indict the four agents on charges of negligence for not obtaining the proper licenses for their practice. "By not indicting the four agents, the prosecution's decision created a loophole in the legal system for licensed tour agents to arrange international birth tours for Korean mothers," a police officer asserted. According to the Seodaemun Police station in Seoul, the four tour agents are suspected of organizing the overseas trip for more than 50 pregnant women. Police authorities said they would send a list of the names of Korean mothers suspected of traveling abroad to give birth to the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Service so that they can re-examine the legality of the babies' citizenship. It is estimated that approximately 6,000 pregnant Korean women travel to the United States, Canada and New Zealand to give birth every year to have their babies attain foreign citizenship, authorities said.

There has been growing concern over controversial ``birth tours,’’ on which pregnant women travel overseas to give birth to have their babies attain foreign citizenship. Six Korean mothers, who just gave birth to their children in California, United States, were detained for questioning by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service last Friday on suspicion of illegal immigration. Prompted by the case, hundreds of people have posted comments on the Internet, criticizing those in question for having disgraced the country.

The government must publicize their names as they are to blame for selfishly wasting tens of millions of won abroad, while there are less privileged people in this country who kill themselves over just a few thousand won.

The number of Korean mothers who take the distressful and expensive tours foreign countries to deliver their babies is expected to increase to more than 7,000 this year _ an increase of more than 100 percent from 3,000 in 2001 _ according to an official at a company which specializes in arranging trips for such mothers.

Previously, such birth tours were prevalent only among the people with high income, such as doctors and lawyers, or those who are privileged enough to, in bids to provide their children with U.S. citizenship. But now it has become so popular that anyone with enough money is willing to make the trip.

It is the mandatory military service system in the country that compels these parents to resort such `tours’ to give their children foreign citizenship. But more importantly, it is about education.

A birth tour to the U.S. costs about $30,000 on average. However, those who have been on birth tours argue the trip would payoff in the long run when comparing the cost of education in Korea and abroad.

In Korea, it costs about one million won every month for my child’s private education. So 12 years of private education plus the expense to study abroad later on adds up to hundreds of millions of won.

But if my child has U.S. citizenship, for example, he can study anywhere in the U.S. and at only about 30 percent of what other Korean parents pay for their children’s tuition. Still the nation’s citizens are decrying such trips for adding to social inequality.

A son of an ordinary man is expected to study in Korea and take an examination to enter a college. Then he is expected to serve two years and two months in the military for a pay of 10,000 won a month. All this only because he doesn’t have enough money to send his pregnant wife to the U.S.?

Exemption from military service

Men who are born in the States can have two nationalities, Korean and American at the same time, so if they choose America, they need not, that is, should not spend 24 months for the military service. People who go on a birth tour say they do so for better education, but experts believe they expect their babies (if they are ‘boys’) to be excluded from military service. This is supported by the ad usually included on the web, which is carried on to decide the baby’s sex and many people go abroad after the baby turns to be a ‘boy’.

They just blame ‘Education’ expecting they’ll be less blamed than when they say they do so for military service.

Men with two nationalities can be exempted from 24-month military service abandoning Korean nationality when they become 17. Consequently, 2 % of men in the upper class can enjoy the exemption from military service legally. If they are really American citizen who live in the States from birth, we should not blame or make issue with those people. However, they take advantage of all the benefits they can during their 17-year living in Korea, and then avoid their rights as Korean citizens.

The problem is not only that we lose 2 % military force. It is the problem that, seeing people from wealth and powerful family avoid the rights, many Korean people might believe that this holly ‘rights’ for our nation is only something one should be ashamed of, because he is from a family whose parents could not afford the trip. This will lead to the corruption of social unity and encourage extreme individualism.

Why should we prevent the birth tour? The defamed national pride

The parents who do the birth tours make their native land, Korea shameful that their fathers and their seniors finally accomplished and make most of our people egoistic to foreign eyes.

Unjust step

The service company for the birth tour insists that the birth tour is not illegal. Of course, the citizenship granted to a baby is not to be ineffective under all occasions, even in case that the purpose of the tour was acquisition of citizenship is made clear. However, US doesn’t admit the birth tour , and they don/t issue visa to the parturient women. So Most of pregnant women leave the country by making a false statement. They usually say their purpose is tourism or visiting relatives. We can say they go as a stowaway by faking an official document and pulling the wool over the eyes of authority. In short, the birth tour is not fundamentally an honorable act.

Conclusion

If thepeople related with birthtour werenot members of our contry, we wouldn’t blame them. Though they have American citizenship they are Korean who will live in Korea.

Recently, many people have two nationalities. And that is a very big issue in our society. Because those who are having dual nationality are mostly the privileged who have an influence on society and they are abusing dual nationality for ill purposes. As you may know, there were many cases of this abuse of dual nationality. You Seong-jun, who was a famous singer, gave up Korean nationality to evade his military service. Lee Hoi-chang's daughter-in-law delivered her baby in Hawaii. Some people say that was a birth expedition that she wanted her baby to have a USA citizenship along with an Korean one, maybe for the future of the baby especially if the baby turns out to be a boy.

The definition of dual nationality is when one person has two nationalities. And that person belongs to each nation. There are two ways that someone has dual nationality.

First is the "inborn dual nationality." There are two cases about it. One is when Korean male's son or daughter is born in USA. Then he or she would get two nationalities, Korean and American. Because Korea applies the principal of personal jurisdiction state and USA adopts the principle of territorial privilege for jurisdiction state.

Next, some nation admits the both line - paternal and maternal line. For example Japan is a country with this system. (cf. Korea admits only paternal line) So if Korean male marries a Japanese female and have a baby, the baby has two nationalities, Korean one and Japanese one.

Second is the case of "postnatal double nationality." If someone really wants to be a citizen of a certain country, he or she can request for the citizenship of that country under certain standards. We call that "naturalization."

2. International law about dual nationality

Today, the dual nationality brings about many inconveniences or troubles. For example, evading one's military service, studying abroad early and working abroad. And if someone suffers damage from a third country and that person is the dual national, (for example A state and B state) the problem is very difficult. Because it is not easy to decide on which state's diplomatic protection the person deserves.

So the international law regards principal of nationality unique for perfection. But each nation's law is different from other nations. So our international society adjusts by an international treaty. As a result, there is some treaty about dual nationality. In 1930, the first Hague International Statute Compilation Committee concluded a treaty. According to that treaty, if someone is to evade his military service, he must give up that nationality.

3. Solution

Many people in Korea who are dual national tend to abuse it. So we need an apt control. There are many ways to control dual nationals. For instance, each nation could request duty of tax payment and demand certain devotion for the country. Not only by doing so but there could be many other ways to alleviate this problem.

The government must publicize their names as they are to blame for selfishly wasting tens of millions of won abroad, while there are less privileged people in this country who kill themselves over just a few thousand won. The number of Korean mothers who take the distressful and expensive tours foreign countries to deliver their babies is expected to increase to more than 7,000 this year _ an increase of more than 100 percent from 3,000 in 2001 _ according to an official at a company which specializes in arranging trips for such mothers. Previously, such birth tours were prevalent only among the people with high income, such as doctors and lawyers, or those who are privileged enough to, in bids to provide their children with U.S. citizenship. But now it has become so popular that anyone with enough money is willing to make the trip. It is the mandatory military service system in the country that compels these parents to resort such `tours’ to give their children foreign citizenship. But more importantly, it is about education. A birth tour to the U.S. costs about $30,000 on average. However, those who have been on birth tours argue the trip would payoff in the long run when comparing the cost of education in Korea and abroad. In Korea, it costs about one million won every month for my child’s private education. So 12 years of private education plus the expense to study abroad later on adds up to hundreds of millions of won. But if my child has U.S. citizenship, for example, he can study anywhere in the U.S. and at only about 30 percent of what other Korean parents pay for their children’s tuition. Still the nation’s citizens are decrying such trips for adding to social inequality. A son of an ordinary man is expected to study in Korea and take an examination to enter a college. Then he is expected to serve two years and two months in the military for a pay of 10,000 won a month. All this only because he doesn’t have enough money to send his pregnant wife to the U.S.?
Exemption from military service Men who are born in the States can have two nationalities, Korean and American at the same time, so if they choose America, they need not, that is, should not spend 24 months for the military service. People who go on a birth tour say they do so for better education, but experts believe they expect their babies (if they are ‘boys’) to be excluded from military service. This is supported by the ad usually included on the web, which is carried on to decide the baby’s sex and many people go abroad after the baby turns to be a ‘boy’. They just blame ‘Education’ expecting they’ll be less blamed than when they say they do so for military service. Men with two nationalities can be exempted from 24-month military service abandoning Korean nationality when they become 17. Consequently, 2 % of men in the upper class can enjoy the exemption from military service legally. If they are really American citizen who live in the States from birth, we should not blame or make issue with those people. However, they take advantage of all the benefits they can during their 17-year living in Korea, and then avoid their rights as Korean citizens. The problem is not only that we lose 2 % military force. It is the problem that, seeing people from wealth and powerful family avoid the rights, many Korean people might believe that this holly ‘rights’ for our nation is only something one should be ashamed of, because he is from a family whose parents could not afford the trip. This will lead to the corruption of social unity and encourage extreme individualism.
Why should we prevent the birth tour? The defamed national pride
	Just 50 years ago Korea was the poorest and an undeveloped country under the despotic rule. However thanks to our ancestors' blood-and-tears endeavor our country became to fall into the tenth rank of an advanced country and accomplished democratization politically. Also, we showed our success all the world in the last 2002 World Cup and cried out 'Korea' hand in hand proudly.
But the article of a birth tour in the Times brought disgrace on our country. Annually over 5000 people give birth their babies in other countries to evade military service and throw up their own nationality. They exhaust every means including unjust ways and means to acquire citizenship of the nations such as America, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The parents who do the birth tours make their native land, Korea shameful that their fathers and their seniors finally accomplished and make most of our people egoistic to foreign eyes. Unjust step The service company for the birth tour insists that the birth tour is not illegal. Of course, the citizenship granted to a baby is not to be ineffective under all occasions, even in case that the purpose of the tour was acquisition of citizenship is made clear. However, US doesn’t admit the birth tour , and they don/t issue visa to the parturient women. So Most of pregnant women leave the country by making a false statement. They usually say their purpose is tourism or visiting relatives. We can say they go as a stowaway by faking an official document and pulling the wool over the eyes of authority. In short, the birth tour is not fundamentally an honorable act. Conclusion If thepeople related with birthtour werenot members of our contry, we wouldn’t blame them. Though they have American citizenship they are Korean who will live in Korea.
Editorial: Dual Nationality
Recently, many people have two nationalities. And that is a very big issue in our society. Because those who are having dual nationality are mostly the privileged who have an influence on society and they are abusing dual nationality for ill purposes. As you may know, there were many cases of this abuse of dual nationality. You Seong-jun, who was a famous singer, gave up Korean nationality to evade his military service. Lee Hoi-chang's daughter-in-law delivered her baby in Hawaii. Some people say that was a birth expedition that she wanted her baby to have a USA citizenship along with an Korean one, maybe for the future of the baby especially if the baby turns out to be a boy. 1. The definition of dual nationality The definition of dual nationality is when one person has two nationalities. And that person belongs to each nation. There are two ways that someone has dual nationality. First is the "inborn dual nationality." There are two cases about it. One is when Korean male's son or daughter is born in USA. Then he or she would get two nationalities, Korean and American. Because Korea applies the principal of personal jurisdiction state and USA adopts the principle of territorial privilege for jurisdiction state. Next, some nation admits the both line - paternal and maternal line. For example Japan is a country with this system. (cf. Korea admits only paternal line) So if Korean male marries a Japanese female and have a baby, the baby has two nationalities, Korean one and Japanese one. Second is the case of "postnatal double nationality." If someone really wants to be a citizen of a certain country, he or she can request for the citizenship of that country under certain standards. We call that "naturalization." 2. International law about dual nationality Today, the dual nationality brings about many inconveniences or troubles. For example, evading one's military service, studying abroad early and working abroad. And if someone suffers damage from a third country and that person is the dual national, (for example A state and B state) the problem is very difficult. Because it is not easy to decide on which state's diplomatic protection the person deserves. So the international law regards principal of nationality unique for perfection. But each nation's law is different from other nations. So our international society adjusts by an international treaty. As a result, there is some treaty about dual nationality. In 1930, the first Hague International Statute Compilation Committee concluded a treaty. According to that treaty, if someone is to evade his military service, he must give up that nationality. 3. Solution Many people in Korea who are dual national tend to abuse it. So we need an apt control. There are many ways to control dual nationals. For instance, each nation could request duty of tax payment and demand certain devotion for the country. Not only by doing so but there could be many other ways to alleviate this problem. Top