The Importance of Looks in Korea

Tell me what the first thing you notice in your first meeting with someone? What part of your body working the quickest? The eyes. Isn’t it pleasant to see someone with a good looking? Or something that is just attractive. Born with a good looking is something we have to be grateful for. If you were born in Korea you most likely are aware of what the people there concern the most, to be looking as perfect as possible. The world is huge, so many races spread out around the world. Korea is part of Asia, so does Indonesia. For us who are Asian, we’re mostly born shorter than the ones in America or England, our skin type tends to be ivory natural to beige and tan in some regions, our eyes not even bigger than them or we call it slanted almost have no eyelids. Korean seem to not like it, what they’re always dreaming about is to have a slim good-looking body with long legs and delicate waist, big rounded eyes with eyelids, and pointed nose and chin we could say it Barbie look alike. In my 20 years of life, I do believe that look of someone is important, we can’t take it for granted. When I’m going somewhere with the best look of myself, it will make me feel super confident.

“Nothing tastes good as looking good feels” Tony Robbins said. Not just to attract someone because you are pretty or handsome, looking good is also shown how caring you are with yourself. In Korea, looking good will help you to find a job easily beside the skills that they have of course. This actually sounds a bit taboo since most of people think that looking good is not really important, but it really does. Come on, let’s be realistic for once. Let me take the Korean girl band as an example, what do you see when the first time you watch their music video? Don’t say anything about their skills because I know that is not the first thing that would catch your attention. Before they debut, they had some times to make their looks as attractive in every way possible because Korean has a standard beauty and they are obsessed with it. That’s why if you live in Korea and you have that standard beauty, everything going to be a lot easier for you to go through.

For most of the upper-class people in Korea, they’re all looking like a character out from a comic it’s not just a coincidence, if they weren’t born good looking they’ll try to make like they actually are, through plastic surgery. It’s a bit odd enough for most of people since they force their selves to have some kinds of look they’ve always dream about but it became a tradition, still about Korean with their obsession. Plastic surgery is one of the common things to do but unfortunately, to be able to have a plastic surgery they need approximately $400 for the good quality one, the parents there trying to save their money as wise as possible so that their kids could have a plastic surgery when they’re grown up, sounds crazy right? But that is their tradition, to make their children away from bullying since how concern Korean about looks.

Speaking about bullying, why do you think plastic surgery became their tradition? Why they really concern about looks? There is a driving factor to it. Bullying. This is super dramatic but it’s true and really happened in Korea, not just an empty word. There is a drama entitled “My ID Is Gangnam Beauty” this drama represented the Korean actual lifestyle. When someone born ‘ordinary’, it’s such a nightmare for them, they’re most likely will face a trouble. No offense, but people who seem a bit different from the beauty standard in Korea, they’ll receive less respect or lack of attention. The bullying sometimes really harsh, it caused some of them a trauma or a mental illness. So, bullying became one of the driving factors why Korean have plastic surgery as their tradition. I had experienced it once in my life, I am away from Korea, I live in a country that is not as strict as Korea especially about look but with just that I already receive a lot of bad words but that became my motivation, I’m not saying I’m looking as good as SNSD’s Taeyeon now or anytime in the future but I’m trying to be the best of me since then.

Looking good is important, don’t believe someone who said that inner beauty is just enough they’re mostly the one who doesn’t want you to care about yourself. Inner beauty is also important, but what about to be beautiful inside out? And be the best version of yourself.