The name of the source in this column has been changed to protect the privacy of the source. 

Many Koreans have been expressing their concerns of being circumcised through Naver, the popular website in Korea. One of them stated that he strongly believed that he could make his own decisions about his life but his parents recently forced him to follow their instruction. They sent him to a urologist to have a particular surgery that only males have, circumcision.

I recently met the man, John, on the website called Suhui. During the interview, he stated that his parents congratulated him on becoming a real male at that time, however, it seems like he regrets a lot about following his parents’ instruction without having a conversation with them.

Before he had the surgery, John’s father told him that if he were uncircumcised, he would get bullied while in military service. Since most Korean young males have already been circumcised, he said he would become an outcast if he didn’t get the surgery.

In addition, his mother and sister are against having relationships with uncircumcised men because they consider uncircumcised men to have unsanitary sexual organs.  

John said he was trying to persuade them that circumcision was not necessary but it was hard to convince them because they were too close-minded to have a conversation with him. 

Although some people can take this topic uncomfortably, I think it is important to stop unnecessary violation for males.  After I had a deep conversation about circumcision with John, I spent time researching the subject and deemed it unnecessary. Recently, the German government enforced a law that prohibits circumcising infants because of two reasons.  

First, it is too brutal to remove skin from babies. Although many doctors encouraged parents to circumcise their kids when they were born, citing that the children don’t feel any pain, in the 1990s, some doctors began claiming that since a newborn’s skin cells and nervous system are comparable to an adult, the kids do feel pain during the surgery. Of course they feel less pain than adults because adults have more skin cells than babies but babies feel more pain during the surgery because they are not anesthetized. That means it’s a brutal violation to circumcise babies. 

Second, there is no hygienic benefit for circumcision. These days, less than 20 percent of men are circumcised in Asia. Korea is an anomaly with a circumcision rate over 80 percent. According to Dr. Kang, a medical reporter for Hidoc, few people are infected by hygiene-related diseases. He stated that approximately two percent of uncircumcised men were infected so far, so circumcision is not really necessary for everyone. 

According to The Hankyoreh, one of the most popular Korean media outlets, circumcision began in Israel and some Muslim nations because of religious reasons and not because of hygienic concerns. However, Jewish people disseminated false information that circumcision is good for sanitation during World War II. It was because Nazis were trying to find Jews and were identifying them by taking off their pants. That’s why Jewish people persuaded the American military to encourage the practice of circumcision, so that they could confuse the Nazis while they were looking for Jews. That’s how circumcision started in America.

After Korea achieved independence from Japan, Korean militaries were influenced by American militaries in many ways and circumcision was one of them. Circumcision started in my country because of this questionable information from Jewish people advocating for circumcision. But the interesting thing is, most Korean men are still getting circumcised for hygienic reasons, even though the rate of circumcision is declining in America.

Some might think it’s better to follow the trend to avoid becoming an outcast. However, it’s not a good trend to follow when it is a violation of human rights. Sometimes you have to teach your kids to say “no” when others say “yes” and teach them not to follow misguided instructions. There is no reason to have this procedure unless you are Jewish or Muslim. It can be a violation to your kids. Babies are not anesthetized during the surgery, so they will feel pain. Moreover, it’s not good for adults, as well because they will feel more pain than babies after finishing the surgery. According to John, he couldn’t even do any activities that ordinary males do every day for three weeks. At last, he said he did not want anyone to have the painful experience that he had. Please don’t force your kids to be circumcised in the future.