Cultural Post #3

[Sarah Kwon]

One interesting thing about Korean culture is their tattoo culture. Having a tattoo in Korea is not illegal however they are still looked down upon. Many times, people would associate people with tattoos as being a delinquent or part of a gang. In fact, celebrities would even need to cover up their tattoos before going on live shows. Another interesting fact is that there are a lot of illegal underground tattoo parlors in Korea. This is because it is illegal to give a tattoo unless a person has a doctor's license. Having a doctors license in Korea is especially hard because competition in Korea is already extremely high. Therefore, a lot of people who have a doctor's license would rather be a doctor than open up a tattoo parlor. 

[Kristen Mejia]

Wowwwwww! I knew that tattoos were looked down upon in Korea, but I had no idea that you needed a doctor's note in order to get one. Although tattoos in the U.S. are really popular, it seems like bigger tattoos or too many are looked down upon, especially in the work place, so this negative stigma against tattoos in Korea is not too surprising. It kind of sucks that they're not more widely accepted in Korea because I've seen a lot of awesome tattoo art done by Korean tattoo artists on social media, so it would be cool if people could adorn their bodies how they want, and not have to face so much backlash.