South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo notes with alarm that women are wearing shorter and shorter skirts.:

Miniskirts which are so short that passersby feel embarrassed just to see them are hitting the street in Korea in the spring season of 2006. They are not just mini. They are super-miniskirts with their total length less than 25 cm. Such super-miniskirts, which got some 10 cm shorter from 10 years ago, are selling like hot cakes, some 2,500-3,000 units on average a day in G-Market, a local online shopping mall, and Auction, the trading site…..

Why are super-miniskirts so popular? There are a variety of socio-economic explanations. As the economy slips into deeper recession, miniskirts become increasingly popular, some say. When skirts get shorter, stock prices rise, say others. Gong Min-kyung (26), a woman wearing a super miniskirt in Yeoksamdong, Seoul on Friday said it is just for their satisfaction. A college student said, “When I wear a super-miniskirt, mesh stockings and 7-cm heels, it creates an optical illusion to make me look more than 10 cm taller than I really am.”

AsiaPundit will note that South Korea is not presently in a recession, leading him to concur with The Flea that the socio-economic theory is less satisfying than this optical-illusion explanation.

More seriously, the increase of miniskirt wearing is a significant symbol of Korea’s democratic development and should be welcomed.

Until recently, Korean police officers regularly stopped those young people who were brave enough to make attempts at fashion statements and measured their miniskirts (right) and forcibly cut their hair. Both these photos are from 1973. Even nowadays, many older Koreans won’t hesitate to publicly chew out young strangers they think are behaving immodestly.