South Korea's president gets double eye-lid surgery

[bhchao]

South Korean president Roh Moo-Hyun and his wife recently went cosmetic eye-lid surgery to get double eyelids. The president says that previously his drooping eyelids obstructed his vision, and needed surgery to correct the problem.

So what do you think? Lame or cool? In a nation crazy about looks and plastic surgery, even the president is taking up the craze. My grandmother laughed when she saw the photos in a Korean newspaper, and uttered a curse word at the president.

Koizumi has the best natural hairstyle of any Asian leader. Roh Moo-Hyun may be trying to imitate his Japanese counterpart's style by artificially remaking his eyes.

[skylee]

Koizumi has the best natural hairstyle of any Asian leader.

I agree.

[wushijiao]

My first reaction is to criticize. Plastic surgery is form the metally weak, and ugly, I've always thought. But then again, when I'm an old and ageing I might think differently.

[gato]

Plastic surgery is form the metally weak, and ugly,

Yeah, he'll end up looking like Mick Jagger.

So is there an equivalent to Michael Jackson in Korea, yet, i.e. a celebrity whose plastic surgeries have gone terribly, terribly wrong?

[rockytriton]

What's next? Cosmetic eye surgery to make asians look like westerners??

[wushijiao]

Cosmetic eye surgery to make asians look like westerners??

Doesn't this exist, especially in Korea?

If you sit in the back seat of many Shanghai taxis, there are ads for plastic surgery from Korean doctors. There have been plenty of cases of young girls going out into the fierce, competitive Chinese job market, with the idea that plastic surgery might give them an edge. Sadly, they are probably right. Of course people hire based on looks all over the world, but it seems that in China there is little pretension to even hide that fact. In any case, screw-ups and botched surgeries seem quite common. So I guess when it comes to quality plastic surgery, Korea has a good brand image.

[rockytriton]

I didn't know that cosmetic surgery in asia was so big. I know that in Korea some people are giving their children some type of surgery to make their tongue more adaptable to speaking english, I think this is crazy!

[bhchao]

Of course people hire based on looks all over the world, but it seems that in China there is little pretension to even hide that fact.

That's unfortunately the case, especially when one needs to make him or herself stand out from a population of 1.3 billion. With so many applicants in a tight Chinese job market, the employer will most likely choose the better looking of two individuals with similar ability.

A few years ago, I was watching Dateline on NBC that showed undercover journalists in New York asking people of different appearances to pretend to ask for assistance. For example on a busy workday in the city, a woman of mediocre appearance was asked to seek directions from people walking by on the sidewalk. Most people ignored her and pretended not to hear her, although there were some people who did help her. Another woman who was highly attractive was asked to do the same thing, and most people (about 90%) eagerly offered to help her.

In another test, the woman of mediocre appearance was told to drop one of her items on the sidewalk as she was walking, to see if anyone would tell her that she dropped something. The highly attractive woman was told to do the same thing. The same results happened. No one let the mediocre-looking woman know that she dropped her item, whereas a majority of people told the highly attractive woman that she dropped something.

[Lu]

"his drooping eyelids obstructed his vision"? What a stupid excuse. A president should set an example and not go with this eye-operating craze.

[外人・・・様！]

I don't even notice much of a difference...

[bhchao]

This article confirms what rocky said about South Koreans using surgery to trim their kids' tongues to give them an edge in the job market. Even though learning Mandarin is rising in popularity and necessity in South Korea, English is still the most important foreign language to learn in the country especially after the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and the fact that English courses are mandatory at middle and high schools in South Korea.

The article points out that parents trimming their kids' tongues to make them more flexible, and more easier to speak English without a foreign accent, will hurt their kids' self esteem if the surgery won't change very much the way they speak English. Putting too much emphasis on learning English prevents children from having a well-rounded education. After all, what is wrong with speaking English with a Korean accent?

http://www.msnbc.com/news/981625.asp?cp1=1

I think this obsession with plastic surgery to give one an edge over others is ridiculous. One should be proud of what they were born with.