KOREA : image-obsessed society

KOREA : image-obsessed society (8 photos)

In Korea, there are mirrors everywhere. They even have a mirror hanging in every classroom, on the teacher's (female) desk. Female students often have small compact mirrors on their desks. During class they'll be staring at themselves.

Young women in the subway do the same thing, in front of whoever, wherever, and sometimes if they don’t have a mirror, they’ll take pictures of themselves on their phones in order to touch up their makeup.

Most Korean women appear to have what is known as a “double eye-lid,” even though according to The New York Times article about plastic surgery in Korea only one in five women is actually born with one.

There’s no mystery to why this is–South Korea has the highest rate of cosmetic plastic surgery in the world. Plastic surgery has become so commonplace in this image-obsessed society that it’s talked about openly among co-workers, mothers buy their daughters surgeries as gifts, and young women grow up thinking they’ll never find love or career success if they don’t fix their faces.

We are used to hearing the stereotype that Americans are superficial and beauty-obsessed, and yet, Korean societies high-standards of beauty and the extremes to which they’ll go to achieve that beauty blow those stereotypes straight out of the water.

Most Korean girls believe that she needed a better look in order to be able to succeed in business and find a husband.

A Korean man who recently got a nose job explained that his nose was his “insecurity” and that he felt that he would feel more confident after his surgery.

In Korea, education is everything. Korean students study for hours each day, and most attend a private school after leaving their regular public school for the day. But this atmosphere makes for an extremely competitive process to enter universities and to find jobs, and this is where many Korean women think that having surgery and beautifying themselves will give them an advantage.

But in the end, who can blame them? They have their K-pop stars, friends, media and even their mothers telling them that this is the way they can set themselves apart from the pack.

Miss Korea's Plastic Surgery Scandal

Miss Korea's Plastic Surgery Scandal

Recently crowned Miss Korea 2012, Kim Yu-mi, openly admitted to having gone under the knife in order to achieve her pageant-winning good looks.

After high school photos of the now 21-year-old Kim surfaced on the internet, scandal ensued. The delicate beauty is only a shadow of her former self, the images of the much younger Kim little resembling who she is today.

“I was shocked that the papers made it out like I claimed to have been a natural beauty,” she told a tvN entertainment show.

“I never once said that I was born beautiful.” Kim said she never intended to hide she had plastic surgery, and although she understands there are some people who will be disappointed, she wants to look forward.

“From now on, I hope to make a name for myself for my inner beauty rather than my outer beauty,” said Kim, who is currently taking a yearlong break from studying film at Konkuk University.

The coveted title of Miss Korea 2012 was awarded to Kim Yu-mi at the annual beauty pageant held at Kyung Hee University in Seoul.

The 22-year-old film studies major at Konkuk University was all smiles in her golden gown as she was given the crown by last year’s winner Lee Seong Hye, the Korea Times reported.

And unlike last year, when Korean American Soo Jung “Crystal” Kim took second runner-up, no Korean Americans were among the six runners-up.

New York, Los Angeles and a handful of other major American cities typically send representatives to compete in the Miss Korea pageant every year.

The new Miss Korea, who reportedly enjoys reading books and listening to music as well as playing the piano, will represent Korea at the Miss Universe pageant in 2013.