I mentioned before that striving to make the youth get married and have children is a state policy of Korea. I want to dedicate a chapter to the topic, show some photos, and finalize it before going on with the results of this policy in the following one.
Duck Cafe
Years ago, when I and my brother were studying away from Istanbul, I got a duck to befriend my parents – and you know what? It was one of the best decisions I ever made. Pakize, named my mom, was a cutest and most beautiful friend we as a family ever had, and her passing, two decades later, still pains us.
Seeing from me, a schoolfriend, with whom we also were university-friends, decided to get two ducks than one, to cure his depressive mood. Yes, the ducks helped him, and did enormously: Each and every time he brought his pets to the campus, he met at least ten new girls, and you know what it led to. “I was to roast them, it was the initial idea” he once said. “But I rather roast the girls, Murat” he laughed. Surely cats and dogs could as well help with the cause, but they’re so ordinary. Such extraordinariness paid him off well.
Couple of years ago, long after our university lives were over, Korean government held a competition for ideas to help the new generation to get married and make babies. Three projects were chosen as winners and one of them is written by my friend: The Duck Cafe!
This place is located at Gamcheon, though you can find variations in almost all towns, and they work miracles! As per the data, obtained by the Korean government via the mandatory pre-marriage survey, as of 2023, one in every twenty marriages (5%) were by couples that met each other at duck cafes. Isn’t this amazing?
Well, there is more, if this isn’t enough for you as it isn’t for me: My friend rejected the prize offered by the government and rather opted for a per-marriage payment. Now he is enjoying his retirement in Maldives at the age of 38, planning to buy a private island before he turns 50. Who would ever guess my brother’s moving to Kocaeli for his studies would help Korean youth get married?
The Bodyfriend Lounge
Precisely what you thought of it: A place where you find body friends. Not a brothel or a love hotel, not a place you pay and buy the time of a girl or a guy for your own one sided needs but a place you take your boy/girlfriend and get to know each other closer and better. That’s what’s written in Korean: Above it says “engaged and married people, please see our bodypartner lounge” and below it says “the address to make the best decision in the world”. How do these fare isn’t known by me, and I hope that data will be released about the effects so that we can decide if they helped the policy or not.
Positive Discrimination
Another self-explanatory photo: If you are married with children, you take the shorter way. You are not married or without children? Sorry, you need to take the longer way. Genius, isn’t it?
There are priority seats in all means of transportation all around the world. In Turkey it’s the elder, pregnant ladies, and ladies with children; in Japan it’s Turkey plus people with invisible sicknesses, in Thailand it’s Turkey plus Buddhist monks… But nowhere, absolutely nowhere but in Korea that priority seats are only for pregnant women. “Who would have a baby only to be able to sit in transportation” you might ask but remember! Koreans are hardworking people and even with their perfect public transport system, they spend considerable time on the way to and from work. If it means being comfortable for at least an hour of your day, wouldn’t it start making sense?