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[[Category:Human rights]]
→Declining rate of male circumcision reported: Add text and citation.
[[File:Flag_of_South_Korea.svg|thumb|150px|Flag of South Korea]]
'''South Korea''', a traditionally non-circumcising nation, nevertheless, adopted the practice of non-therapeutic [[circumcision]] during and after the Korean War (1950-53). The adoption of [[circumcision ]] may be traced to 1950, when the [[United States ]], which was then a nation devoted to circumcision, intervened in the Korean War (1950-53) and large numbers of mostly [[circumcised ]] American troops were sent into South Korea to aid in its defense.<ref name="kim1999">{{REFjournal
|last=Kim
|first=Dai Sik
|init=DS
|author-link=Dai Sik Kim
|last2=Lee
|first2=
|etal=no
|title=Male circumcision: a South Korean perspective
|journal=BJU Int
|location=
|date=1999-01
|volume=83 Suppl 1 |issue=Suppl 1
|article=
|page=28-33
|quote=
}}</ref>
A 1971 study of South Korean men who were being examined for military service found that only five percent of the men were [[circumcised]]. These men must have been born just before or during the Korean War, but were not [[circumcised]], so this indicates that the onset of non-therapeutic circumcision is of more recent vintage.<ref>{{REFjournal
|last=Jung
|init=KM
===Concept of "naturally circumcised"===
Korean men have invented several reasons that they do not need a surgical [[adult circumcision| circumcision]], such as their [[foreskin]] is short, that it retracts when they have an [[erection]], that it is not phimosed, or other reasons. This is called "naturally circumcised".<ref name="kim1999" />
===Usual age for circumcision===
Most Korean males are [[circumcised]] not in infancy but at puberty, as teenagers or in their 20s, so it is now viewed as a "rite of passage". [[Circumcision ]] in infancy is rare in South Korea.<ref name="kim1999" /> Ku ''et al''. (2003) reported "a positive attitude toward circumcision in South Korean men, linking it with hygienic practices." They also reported the decision to circumcise was most often made by parents.<ref name="ku2003">{{REFjournal
|last=Ku
|first=
|author-link=
|last2=Kim
|first2=Dai Sik
|init2=DS
|author2-link=Dai Sik Kim
|etal=no
|title=Extraordinarily high rates of male circumcision in South Korea: history and underlying causes
===Incidence and prevalence===
The incidence of circumcision was found to exceed 100 percent, since the number of older males being [[circumcised]], exceeded the birth rate.<ref name="pang2002" />
The prevalence of circumcision was 93 percent in the 20-year-old age group and 60 percent over all ages.<ref name="pang2002" />
===Reports from medical doctors===
Of the doctors surveyed, 41 percent performed circumcisions. General surgeons and urologists were most likely to perform circumcisions. Unlike America, only 28 percent of obstetricians did circumcisions and no paediatricians performed circumcisions. Doctors generally were poorly informed about [[circumcision]].<ref name="pang2002" />
==Medical research==
Kim & Pang (2007) studied the effect of the [[foreskin]] on [[masturbation]]. They reported that masturbatory pleasure decreased in 48% of the respondents and increased in 8%, while difficulty increased in 63% but was easier in 37%. They concluded that there was a decrease in masturbatory pleasure after [[adult circumcision| circumcision]].<ref name="kimpang2007">{{REFjournal |last=Kim |first=DaiSik |init= |last2=Pang |first2=Myung-Geol |init2= |title=The effect of male circumcision on sexuality |journal=BJU Int |volume=99 |issue=3 |pages=619-622 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1464-410X.2006.06646.x |quote= |pubmedID=17155977 |pubmedCID= |DOI=10.1111/j.1464-410X.2006.06646.x |date=KimDS PangMG 2007-03 |accessdate=2021-06-06}}</ref>
==Declining rate of male circumcision reported==
Kim et al. (2012) reported a new survey carried out in 2010-11 that found a sharp decline in the incidence of circumcision. The circumcision rate in the age 14–16 age group had declined over a decade from 88.4% to 56.4%. The circumcision rate in the 17–19 age group Had declined from 95.2% to 74.4%. The authors attributed the decline to the availability of better information on male non-therapeutic circumcision. The authors suggested that the practice of male circumcision is in steep decline in South Korea.<ref name="kim2012">{{REFjournal
|last=Kim
|first=DaiSikDai Sik |init=DS |author-link=Dai Sik Kim
|last2=Koo
|first2= Sung-Ae Koo |init2=SA
|author2-link=
|last3=Pang
|first3=Myung-Geol
|init3=MG
|author3-link=
|etal=no
|DOI=10.1186/1471-2458-12-1067
|accessdate=2012-01
}}</ref>
The percentage of males [[circumcised]] in South Korea (prevalence) is reported to be 77%.<ref>{{REFweb
|url=https://circstatistics.github.io/
|title=Global Circumcision Statistics and Estimates
|last=
|first=
|init=
|publisher=https://circstatistics.github.io
|date=2024-04-01
|accessdate=2024-04-01
}}</ref>
===Human rights issues===
The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the ''[[International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights]]'' (ICCPR) in December 1966.<ref name="lee1993">{{REFjournal |last=Lee |first=Suk T. Lee, [Tae |init=ST |url=https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjil/vol14/iss4/3?utm_source=repository.law.umich.edu%2Fmjil%2Fvol14%2Fiss4%2F3&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages |title=South Korea: Implementation and Application of Human Rights Covenants], |journal=MJIL |volume=14 MICH.J. INT'LL. |issue=705 ( |date=1993) |accessdate=2023-11-02}}.</ref> The Republic of Korea (South Korea) ratified this international [[human rights]] treaty in April 1990. Article 6(1) of the ''Constitution of the Republic of Korea'' provides that treaties "duly concluded and promulgated under the Constitution and the generally recognized rules of international law shall have the same effect as the domestic laws of the Republic of Korea."<ref name="ROKConstitution1948"/><ref name="lee1993" />
Article 2(1) of the [[ICCPR]] provides:
{{SEEALSO}}
* [[Dai Sik Kim]]
* [[Intact South Korea]]
* [[Human rights]]
{{REF}}
[[Category:Male circumcision]]
[[Category:Human rights]]
[[Category:Korea]]