Korea's growth complex.

• Position: ASIA - Brief article

Convinced that height is crucial to success, South Korean parents are doing everything they can to make their kids taller--including sending them to one of the hundreds of "growth clinics" that have opened around the country. "Parents would rather add 10 centimeters to their children's stature than bequeath them 1 billion won [about $850,000]," says Shin Dong-il, a growth-clinic doctor. Some clinics offer a mix of acupuncture, aromatherapy, and herbal tonics. Others try to stretch children's spines on machines. But does any of this actually make kids taller? "There is no clinical proof or other evidence that these treatments really work," says a researcher for a consumer-advocacy group. And...