I grew interested in the Miss Korea pageant since I haven't heard about it in since I was a child, so I researched some current winners. I found an article that highlighted the Miss Korea's 2018 winner Kim Soo Min at 22 years old. She is fluent in English and graduated from Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. However, her win as Miss Korea was controversial because some thought she was on the shorter and heavier side compared to past winners. She also had to delete her Instagram account because she received so many hate comments. I'm torn-- on one hand I'm glad that Korea is slowly being more progressive by having a winner with a healthier weight, but I'm also disappointed that she has gotten so much lash back for her title. Regardless, I'm glad for the little progress made, and it's been an interesting read and video interview.
I saw a video of her interview in English and her response to the public:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygVxTTKWvdA
Here is the article where I got the news:
https://www.koreaboo.com/news/kim-soo-min-crowned-winner-miss-korea-2018/
Comments
I am not really one to be upset or criticize societal views on cultures outside of my own, but reading about this and watching this video about Kim Soo Min made me really disappointed in regards to Korean standards of beauty. As this is pretty common in other East Asian cultures such as in China (which I am more familiar with), it does make me sad that people who are at perfectly healthy weights are criticized and pressured to fit a specific societal mode. I am happy that someone with a more "realistic" and "relatable" body weight/height has won this kind of contest (which I am sure is a big deal), but I hope that there are only greater efforts in Korean culture in raising awareness in terms of talking about body shapes and sizes!