Koreans are naturally beautiful. They are fair-skinned, generally tall, have straight, black hair. Everything we, Pinoys, dream to have. The problem is, Koreans don’t want to be just beautiful. They want to be perfectly beautiful.
I think they are the most beauty-obsessed people I have ever met. As an ESL teacher for almost five years, I have interacted with quite a few. They say that in Korea, having a plastic surgery is like shopping for a special pair of shoes or bag, or going to a salon to have your hair done. They have every cosmetic procedure imaginable—to your usual double eyelids, noselift, and boob job, to jaw sculpting and forehead widening, to even eyeball whitening! (Huh?) According to the Seoul Metropolitan Survey conducted in 2007, almost 53% of Korean women had plastic surgery by the time they reached college. The number may be even higher because not a lot of them want to admit that they passed under a doctor’s knife. Thanks to these young women’s parents who give plastic surgery as a high school graduation gift. Their parents sometimes force their children to have a procedure or two in the belief that the more attractive their children are, the more successful in life they would be. A higher salary, faster promotion, and even hitching a rich husband are some of the benefits seen if you have big eyes, straight nose, and an oval face. Sigh! Now why didn’t my own parents give their eldest daughter a rhinoplasty gift certificate, instead of a Seiko wrist watch?
One of my Korean students was a nurse for a small-time plastic surgeon in Seoul. She said their small clinic handles 200 operations a day. Not to mention laser peelings, whitening, and the superficial stuffs. Their clients are composed of old women, young girls, and even men. No wonder actors and actresses in the Korean telenovelas all look like fragile Asian dolls. Those more-beautiful-than-girls Korean boys you are swooning over? Believe me; all of them have undergone expensive procedures. No exception.
Clones, anyone?
I’m not here to judge those who had plastic surgery. Heck, if all Filipinos had the moolah to get one, I think all of us would want to look like clones of our favourite celebrities, Hollywood or K-pop, pick your choice. The Papaya and Glutathione industries make millions from us, a case in point. It’s just sad and alarming that we are in this day and age when we become too shamelessly focused about changing the way we look that we forget that values, talents, skills, and identity define who we are permanently and that these assets won’t fade with age.
And who am I to scoff, you say? Inggit lang siguro ako! Maybe. But for now, I’m still satisfied with myself (and the Hubby, hopefully) so as not to visit Dr. Vicky. (Yet?) I’d rather cut my bangs instead.
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Juggles hats of a dumb mom, an accidental ESL teacher, and a stingy fashionista
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ang post na ‘to, parang nangungumpara lang between Koreans and Filipinos. di ko alam kung masaya ba ako sa pagbabasa nito. anong pakialam ko sa high school graduation gift na cosmetic surgery? nonsense naman talaga ang pag post nito, wala akong nakukuha na magandang leksyon dito.
okay lang naman na u admire korean beauties but posting this as a blog? i really don’t understand. kesyo di tayo mayaman, eh kung may pera tayo for sure magpapa surgery din tulad nang sa kanila?
well yeah, trulili na na-inggit ka nga sa kanila with matching sourgraping pa na “But for now, I’m still satisfied with myself (and the Hubby, hopefully) so as not to visit Dr. Vicky.”
please naman wag tayong inggitera. parang nagpapatunay lang INGGITERA/O is DEFINITELY FILIPINO… nakakahiya.
sana wag nating maging CULTURE ang pagiging INGGITERA.
pleas protect the name of this website DEFINITELY FILIPINO in a POSITIVE WAY.
advice lang sa mga writers dito sa website na ito.
thanks.
tama ka ms. ann, mukhang insecure nga itong author na nagsulat. to think na teacher pa sya ng mga koreans db? parang, hello? wala kang respeto sa nag-aakyat ng pera sayo?
Mayaman kasi silang bansa kaya ganyan. So don’t compare Filipinos with them. Ang pinoy pangkain nga lang pinaghihirapan na yun pa kayang luho tulad ng cosmetic surgery.
By saying that Koreans are naturally beautiful and following it up with the traits they have is just like saying that to be beautiful, you have to be fair-skinned, generally tall, have straight, black hair. Isn’t that a bit shallow?
I am following it up that NOT all pinays are out to get that look and NOT all pinoys are attracted to such look.
Those pics that you posted, how sure are you that these girls actually had a cosmetic surgery? Pwede ka mademanda sa ginagawa mong yan.
For its author, I am married to a Korean, and yeah they do tons of beauty-enhancing cuz they don’t wanna look unpretty (hindi ba magandang bagay yun? na concerned sila sa beauty and wellness?) Where did you get your fact? Have you ever been to korea? Well been there a couple of times, and the 53% of Koreans having been done a surgery, well my dear I doubt it, and if they did, so what? May pera sila eh. Surgery, ano ba ang goal nito? to improve one’s appearance right? Hindi ka ba nag makeup ever? It’s the same. When you’re using cosmetics, you are actually altering your looks the same way that surgery does, only that it’s more expensive and it’s permanent.
Anong masasabi mo sa mga Pilipinong hindi magkandarapa sa pagpapaduti? Parehas din lang ng sinasabi mong Koreans na atat magpa-nose job, jaw enhancing, etc. Atleast in Kor, they are doing it properly, eh dito? Who believes in natural beauty anyway? BEAUTY IS AN EFFORT. At least ang Koreans alam nila alagaan ang sarili nila, hindi nakakadiri ang pangangatawan nila, hindi sila matataba at hindi sila mukhang nagpipilit, eh ang mga pinoy?
*pagpapaputi
LOL U MAD BRO?
I don’t think the author is saying that making yourself beautiful is wrong, she’s just saying that there are more important things than your looks, which I’m sure you agree with (…or not). Like for example, LOYALTY FOR THE COUNTRY YOU CAME FROM. ENOUGH INTELLIGENCE TO REALIZE IF THERE ARE INCONSISTENCIES IN WHAT YOU SAY (which unfortunately, many superficial people usually lack :<). ABILITY TO IDENTIFY IF SOMEONE IS BEING SARCASTIC OR NOT. Don't you think those things are more important than your looks?
LOL BUTT HURT! So, how much nose job did you get from your husband after a couple of OTHER “jobs”? Does it blow? Bwahahaha
korean maybe beautiful but the filipinas has the oozing animal appeal!
right!!!
they don’t have much contentment,they have all of the most beautiful things that we wanted but they want for some more…
I’m lucky to be a filipino,because even if we were born not s beautiful,we are enough contented on what we have right now!
>plastic surgery can’t give you the most beautiful things in the world but sometimes plastic surgery can leads you to many side effects!
much better to have the natural beauty than to have undergone plastic surgery but not really sure that those arre safe!
@ Charris: You mean.. the rich get richer and the pauper gets poorer. It’s sad, really. But I like the point.
tamaa..beauty does’nt make any sence..while some said that it is the asset of a woman..asset of making themselves proud of!!…tamaa nga tlga un kanta ng aqua!!…”LIFE IN PLASTIC SO FANTASTIC”…hehehe..
at least, south korea is considered a “developing” country. stop making assumptions that we are better than they are when we can’t even afford to provide good living conditions for the majority our people. think about it. WHO ARE WE TO BRAG ABOUT BEING MORALLY SUPERIOR when we live with no health insurance, no car insurance, no freeways.. want me to go on with this? we live in a society where the rich prosper and the pauper stays a pauper.
this is for the writer who made this article: Why criticize the Koreans when a huge percentage of our actors are hybrids? that is, mongrels who are not 100% filipinos. why is it? BECAUSE WE LOVE FOREIGNERS. what you have written is a piece of nonsense. are we not addicted to beauty? who cares if people buy beauty? how many filipinos have made appointments to dr. calayan and belo? you are stating that we are envious of them because they can afford to send their korean daughters to see plastic surgeons. try to think about more important sociological happenings in our “own” country before critizing others. is this going to help create a mindful citizen? first of all, we are one of the poorest countries in the world. we have a lot to say in our society. now, this is what you have in mind?
Of all the pictures of Korean people online, why did you have to post up the picture of Girl’s Generation? Please do consider the image of a particular individual when you post them up online. I would also like to emphasize that you guys should also consider sorting out whether the pictures are relevant to the post or not.
PS: You didn’t even give credits to the picture.
yeah, you’re right, that’s one act of plagiarism. the righter should acknowledge the source of the facts (or facts nga ba?) that she’s posting.
Koreans are NOT naturally beautiful, sorry. They look all the same. Filipinos are naturally beautiful, and its effortless.
Actually, studies show that being more physically attractive does tend to give an advantage when it comes to promotion and salaries. Kung yan yung reason nila for doing it, then more of practicality than vanity ang reason nila. I think this isn’t shocking. And when one day the Philippines become rich, more and more Filipinos will be doing this as well. It’s just a matter of time. Let’s all accept it.
Although personally, I wouldn’t recommend plastic surgery when my friends ask for my advice simply because you can’t pass the improvements on to your children.
Nice Story… Iba iba kasi tayo ng pagdefine sa Beauty…
Di naman siguro lahat ng koreans, pero siguro Mostly…
wala tayo magagawa kung yun ang culture nila…:P
basta para sakin, may mga magaganda na, habang tumatagal nakakasawa din…
meron naman hindi maganda sa unang tingin, pero habang tumatagal,
gumaganda sila sa paningin natin…
Yan ang tinatawag na Appeal at sa pagdadala…
kaya nga na-uso ang mga netizens sa korea na naghahalungkat ng mga old pictures (highschool graduation pics) ng mga artists don eh. kasi gusto nilang ipag-kumpara, kung may malaking pagbabago ba or something~ saken, sa totoo lang wala nmn na sigurong masama sa kagustuhan nilang gumanda ang outlook nila sa buhay… lalo na kung pribadong tao nmn sila, bakit hinde~ may pera nmn sila XD
You make it seem like SNSD went under the knife. Sorry, with all due respect, I belong to their fandom and I think a disclaimer is fit when I see one. True, I know for a fact that S. Korea is the Plastic Surgery Capital of the world but not all of them have gone through an operation. For the record, SNSD has not undergone any cosmetic operation and unless confirmed by SM Entertainment, this blog post needs to add disclaimers to avoid conflict with people who love SNSD.
Think of it as, someone was talking about a local sex scandal and a picture of someone you know is there but isn’t being directly referred to as the ones in said video. That’s how I feel. It makes SNSD look bad.
Sorry if I have offended anyone, I just feel butt hurt whenever SNSD is involved and people judge them without even getting to know them. Eat your kimchi.
you can actually report this blog to snsd’s company and let them sue her for misleading info
Sobra naman yan
I’m sure it wasn’t the blog writer’s aim to make SNSD look bad, though that may be the result. I’m pretty sure majority of the people who have read/ will read this blog doesn’t know and doesn’t care about who they are, so getting sued over something like that is too much 
Thats y korean men now are marrying foreigner like in my case im a pinay beauty thats why my children inherit my big wide eyes and long lashes koreans said my childrens are doll look alike and beautiful:)
Hindi naman po lahat ng lalake doon na mas maganda pa sa babae e nagparetoke…
So true…
Talagang snsd yung nsa pic. love them!!!
Actually, I’m guilty of the papaya before. Pero I’m in the US now, without the supplies of our beloved papayas, ok din pala. Not just because ‘they’ love our skin tone, but also because papaya soap dries the skin on a dry winter weather. Kahit summer dito dry. So papaya is good in humid weather as I have experienced – PERO. I don’t use papaya continuously for 10 years, unlike some of my friends who ultimately had to stop kasi they started to have blotches on their skin.
The trick to using papaya soaps I guess is to switch them with milder soaps / liquid soap / shower gels every other say, 3 months. That way, you have a healthy glow instead of having a super fake fair skin.
I never liked Koreanovelas anyway. I guess fair skinned women are so overrated. I now have an evolved view of beauty. The likes of Venus Raj for me is prettier than all Koreans combined. Beyonce is beautiful, Jennifer Lopez is beautiful, Tweetie De Leon is beautiful… Or maybe I’m just biased to the tanned and gorgeous?
I don’t think Koreans are beautiful at all! I still luv my own race which we are beautiful in everyway! I’m just saying
ME too…<3
me three!
ako din!!! nakikita lang naman natin kasi na mga koreana yung mga magaganda e. pero tignan din naten yung ordinary girls. as in hindi artista. mashoshock kayo sa itsura nila
)
me four
))
me five!
ayy corny na yung sau RICHEL ano ka si PINK FVE
))
This is heartbreaking, however it is a fact of life in South Korea. Their focus on beauty is already deep set into their psyche, it would be hard for them to change. It’s sad that they have to equate beauty with success, but isn’t it true anywhere else? They just made plastic surgery more accessible and acceptable in society, out in the open.
You are right, my bestfriend here in US is Korean guy and he told me that Korean culture emphasizes on good skin, hair and everything outside and inside the body. They value healthy living by taking good care of their body because they believe that it is an asset. They wanted to look presentable to everyone they meet. He said it is very ‘impolite’ to face people with bad features. Sometimes I tease him about his nose because it’s too perfect and his facial skin is so so fine. He told me that he has a regular visit with a dermatologist that costs him a thousand dollars per visit. Isn’t it vain? If that makes them what they are as a people, i cannot do anything about it. Thanks for sharing your blog. It made me curious about Korean people and its culture.
thanks