The Asianist

Now for something lighter from South Korea.

Korean discount stores are trying to go 24/7 in order to catch more "nocturnal"-oriented customers:

Riding on the nation's increasing nocturnal lifestyle, large discount store chains are scrambling to operate around the clock, seven days a week, a tactic industry pundits dub "nighttime marketing".

The main driver of the new business strategy is the rising number of people who are active at night, mostly career women and double-income couples, experts said. According to government statistics, the number of women in the country's labor force reached 10.05 million as of June this year, an 8.4% increase from five years earlier.

Previously, local discount outlets would shutter at 8 pm, but the practice began to change in June 2003, when Samsung Homeplus Tesco, a joint venture between South Korea's top conglomerate Samsung Group and Britain's Tesco, opened its first around-the-clock outlet in Seoul. In late August, the No 2 industry player set up its 31st 24-hour store in the western part of the capital, emerging as the discounter with the largest number of such outlets.

Alas, these Korean retailers are encountering the same problem Wal-Mart has in the United States:

But despite its increased efforts, the US$23.2 billion discount industry may face a bumpy road ahead as vote-conscious politicians push to limit their operating hours. A group of lawmakers are moving to enact legislation to restrict discounters' business hours in an effort to protect merchants in the country's traditional markets. Calling for government countermeasures, those merchants and neighborhood supermarkets have long complained that large discounters have forced them out of the market with cheaper products.

See what women working has resulted in -- Mom and pop stores going out of business!

In a somewhat related news, Korean women are apparently the second most insecure in Asia, right after Japanese women:

Korean women are among the most insecure about their looks in Asia and thus the most open to plastic surgery, a survey suggests.
The poll of 2,100 women across Asia by Unilever showed only 33 percent of Korean respondents satisfied with their appearance, the second lowest among nine countries surveyed following Japan. Of Korean respondents, 43 percent said they were overweight.

More than half or 53 percent of Korean women answered they considered having plastic surgery, the highest among surveyed countries. The cosmetic surgery rate of Korean women is already the world’s highest with 17 percent. A staggering 80 percent of plastic surgery patients said they were dissatisfied with the results.

Despite the alarmist rhetoric, however, this is a good news. Such concerns are a sign of prosperity. Remember, hungry women in poor countries don't worry about cosmetic surgery and self-image -- they are too busy worrying about daily essentials.