Marriage, abandonment issues and breakfast a la Seoul, Kim family style

The Kim family are having breakfast on a Saturday morning. Thanks to the ferocious lobbying of their unions, bankers are allowed to take Saturdays off in Korea. It is expected that large conglomerates such as Samsung will follow suit at some point, when their big ferocious unions get their act together. Mrs. Kim has put in tremendous effort into the food for her visiting daughter.

Mr. Kim: "So, when do you think you will get married?"
Miss Kim: "Oh gawd. Dad, you've already asked me about four times and I've only been here since last night. Isn't there anything else we can talk about?"
Mr. Kim: "Maybe you should think about moving back to Korea. The young girl working for me in the office is getting married this year."
Miss Kim: "So what? I don't see the relevance of her getting married to my situation."
Mr. Kim: "She's your age."
Miss Kim: "So? There are millions of Korean girls out there who are my age. Not all of them are getting married."
Mr. Kim: "Well then, that means you'll join the ranks of those left on the shelf. I'll bet all your high school friends are married."
Miss Kim: "That's not true. Out of the fifty, only ten of them are married."
Mr. Kim: "Why is that? What are they doing wasting their time?"
Mrs. Kim: "I think we've had enough of this topic, don't you?"

They eat in silence.

Mr. Kim: "So how many children do you think you'll have?"
Miss Kim: "God help me."
Mrs. Kim: "What are you going on about? She hasn't got married yet, do you want her to have children now?!"
Mr. Kim: "She should think about it. I mean, the Korean population is small. It's your duty."
Miss Kim: "Whatever. Mum, HY interviewed with LSE. Isn't that so cool? I felt really jealous of her."
Mr. Kim: "Isn't she going to have a baby?"
Miss Kim: "She's looking for a job. She has to finish her PhD."
Mr. Kim: "But her husband is working, isn't he? She should just have lots of babies."

Miss Kim chucks her spoon down on the place mat. The place mat is from Sri Lanka, where her younger sister travelled to last year. It's a nice place mat.

Miss Kim: "Dad, no one thinks like you these days. Just accept the generation gap, OK? Not everyone has the luxury of relying on their husbands and actually most people want to have their own identity while working. If you live in London it's almost an economic necessity to have both the husband and the wife working."
Mr. Kim: "Well people work after marriage in Korea too. The young girl who got married last year, she leaves her kid with her mother so she sees the child on the weekends."
Miss Kim: "So you're saying I should do that too? I mean, how awful for the child!"
Mrs. Kim: "Don't worry about the child. I'm sure the mother will write a book about how to be a superwoman and the children will probably grow up thinking their mother is a hero for having managed to juggle work and family. That's what seems to be the trend these days, anyway."
Miss Kim: "Oh great. So are you saying I need to become superwoman?"
Mr. Kim: "No, I'm just saying you need to think about getting married."
Miss Kim: "I'll bet those kids have abandonment issues."

Mrs. Kim brings out strawberries from the fridge.