By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter
meeyoo@koreatimes.co.kr

A 21-year-old mother was caught trying to sell her 29-day-old baby for 2 million won ($1,500) in an apparent attempt to overcome financial difficulties, police said Monday. According to the Daejeon Dunsan Police Station, the mother, identified only as Goh, handed over her one-month-old baby boy to a woman named Park, 21, in exchange for the cash in a Cheonan Station, South Chungcheong Province, waiting room on Feb. 8, 2009.

``Goh lives in a welfare facility in Seoul after running away from her home and gave birth to the baby last month without the father. The unmarried mother wrote on the Internet that she would sell her baby because she couldn't afford to raise him,'' police said. Park, said to be mentally disabled, did not actually pay for the baby. She stayed in a ``gosiwon,'' a cheap single-room accommodation, for a night with the child, but her mother reported the incident to police after discovering what had occurred.

``Park seems to have taken the baby out of curiosity,'' a police official said. ``The baby was safely handed over to a social welfare organization.''

Questions for Discussions
What can you say about this recent incident in your country?
What is your opinion on selling babies to overcome financial difficulties?
Do you think a mentally disabled person is fit to raise a child?
Do you know the percentage of women having babies out of wedlock?
What it the effect or impact of women having babies without being married or no other half to raised the child? Is Korean culture open to this kind of happenings?

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Who doesn't wonder what coworkers earn? Most employees view salary as more than a figure for negotiation; it's also a telling measure of their value and worth to an employer. A little more openness about salary would arm workers with the knowledge that they can ask for more, be satisfied with what they're getting, or at least know what to expect if they get promoted.

Research shows that men are not just motivated by money, but also by how much more or less they earn than their colleagues. Traditional thinking was that men were only interested in the size of their pay packets. New findings reveal that men are also concerned about how much their peers are getting.

Korean billionaires: Are these the richest people in Korea.

Vladimir Kim $5.5 Billion: Company - Kazakhmys
Lee Kun Hee $2.9 Billion: Company - Samsung
Chung Mong Koo $2.2 Billion: Company - Hyundai
Shin Dong Bin $1.8 Billion: Company - Lotte
Lee Myung Hee $1.8 Billion: Company - Shinsegae
Lee Jay Yong $1.7 Billion: Company - Samsung
Shin Dong Joo $1.7 Billion: Company - Lotte
Nicholas Park $1.7 Billion: Company - Attorney
Yong Keu Cha $1.3 Billion: Company - Kazakhmys
Chung Mong Joon $1.3 Billion: Company - Hyundai Heavy
Suh Kyung Bae $1.1 Billion: Company - Amorepacific
Han Chang Woo $1.1 Billion: : Company - Maruhan

SALARY DISCUSSION

· Do you and your colleagues ever discuss salaries?
· Are you motivated by your co-workers’ salaries?
· Would you work harder if you knew that your colleague did the same job, but earned more money?
· Do you think that salaries should be based on merit or length of service?
· Would you work very hard if you knew that you would not receive a pay increase for your efforts?
· What motivates you in the workplace?
· How much of a motivating factor is money for you?
· Do you care about how much your colleagues are getting?
· How often do you think about the size of your pay packet and wish it was bigger?
· What other things concern you about your peers or colleagues?
· What does the reward center in your brain like?
· How important is it for you to beat your rivals?
· What things are more important in life than money?
· Do you think men and women look at money differently?
· Which sex is more competitive men or women?
· Do you think knowledge of colleagues’ salaries would increase productivity in the workplace?
· Would rivalries and jealousies increase efficiency?
· How do managers balance keeping their workers happy with their salaries and working conditions while increasing productivity?

SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms:

a) motivated........................................................assess
b) colleagues........................................................productive
c) peers.................................................................effect
d) perform............................................................income
e) rivals.................................................................equals
f) gauge.................................................................driven
g) earnings............................................................nasty
h) impact...............................................................carry out
i) sour.....................................................................coworkers
j) efficient..............................................................competitors

SALARY IDIOMS:

Make ends meet: to be able to afford to pay for the basic expenses of living.
Things are so expensive nowadays that it's very difficult to make ends meet.

Golden Handshake: A golden handshake is a generous sum of money given to a person when they leave a company or retire (sometimes given to encourage early retirement).

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