Tag: Korean women

These outfits remind of the ones the so called fitness influencers wear to the gym and then complain they are being objectified by men looking at them. Here is a reality check for people who dress like this, men are not objectifying you, you are objectifying yourself because you know these provocative outfits will lead to more clicks and attention not so called female empowerment:

Huh Yun-jin of K-pop girl group LE SSERAFIM with no-pants look / Captured from Instagram

The K-pop industry is known for its pioneering and bold fashion statements, but the recent emergence of the “no-pants” look — where individuals wear micro shorts or pair briefs with tights — has ignited a contentious debate.

One of the singers at the forefront of this hot yet controversial trend is Huh Yun-jin, a member of girl band LE SSERAFIM. The 22-year-old generated buzz after sporting only gray briefs and black tights under a pink puffer jacket in a teaser for the group’s upcoming EP, “Easy,” unveiled on YouTube, Jan. 26.

K-pop act (G)I-DLE also grabbed headlines for making a similar wardrobe choice, with all four members putting on bodysuits with no pants in the music video for its latest release, “Super Lady,” which came out on Jan. 29. SISTAR19, a sub-unit of the now-defunct girl group SISTAR, and Lisa of BLACKPINK also displayed pants-free fashion, which has been in vogue around the globe since last year.

In the U.S., a legion of high-profile stars including Taylor Swift and Kendall Jenner are known as the pioneers of this trend.

The pantless look, however, is not without its controversies, especially in the K-pop universe where a large portion of fans are teenagers.

Concerns have been raised about the potential for young fans to blindly imitate these styles, with some critics arguing that this trend represents the commercialization of sexuality masquerading as fashion innovation.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

As usual the numbers in the article are used to provoke a reaction that women are being treated unfairly in Korean workplaces, however without further information these numbers do not prove that point. For example are Korean women primarily working in lower wage occupations compared to males? This article doesn’t say, but I suspect that is probably the biggest reason for the wage gap. If someone did a study that showed males were making more than females in the same occupation with the same hours worked and time in service then it would be a meaningful study:

While the wage gap between men and women is narrowing slowly in Korea, female workers still make only 70 percent of what their male counterparts earned per hour last year, according to a report co-published by the gender and labor ministries on Wednesday.

The average hourly wage of female workers was 18,113 won ($14) in 2022, while male workers earned 25,886 won, according to the “Women’s Economic Activity White Paper 2023.” This means that even though they work the same amount of time, women earn only 70 percent of what men receive.

However, the general wage gap has narrowed gradually, from 64.8 percent in 2012 to 65.9 percent in 2017, 69.8 percent in 2021, and 70 percent in 2022. Last year, the average monthly wage of men was 4.12 million won, compared to 2.68 million won for women.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This is an interesting to see how both CEOs perform leading two of Korea’s biggest IT brands:

Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon, left, and Kakao CEO nominee Chung Shin-a / Courtesy of each company

Naver and Kakao, Korea’s two major internet companies, are in a female leadership contest after the latter recently nominated Chung Shin-a, chief of the group’s venture capital unit, as CEO, according to industry officials and experts.

Naver, operator of Korea’s most used internet portal service, and Kakao, which owns the most popular mobile chat app KakaoTalk, are both to be run by female CEOs.

Of note, is how these two CEOs will lead the internet giants in the AI era, they said.

The appointment of women as CEOs in a rapidly changing IT industry is explained by their expertise in the sector, they said. Also, by appointing women as new leaders, the companies can expect to refresh their image.

“What is expected from female CEOs is not only their expertise but that they can scrutinize the business more thoroughly as women,” Kim Dae-jong, a professor of business administration at Sejong University, said.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This was a horrible crime that happened to the woman just trying to do her job at a convenience store:

This image captured from X, also formerly known as Twitter, shows an ongoing campaign in which women with short hair share their photos, which began after a female part-timer in her 20s, who was working at a convenience store, was assaulted by a man in his 20s simply because of her short hair. Captured from X

Should women with short hair be labeled as feminists? And do feminists harm men?

Such questions, which sound a bit peculiar, have been raised in Korea, once again, following a recent incident, in which a female part-timer in her 20s, who was working at a convenience store, was assaulted by a man in his 20s simply because of her short hair. 

The incident immediately led to an online campaign encouraging women with short hair to share their photos under #women_shortcut_campaign.

According to police, the assailant was caught assaulting the part-timer at the convenience store in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province, on Saturday. The man also assaulted a male customer in his 50s who was trying to stop the attack.

At the time of the attack, the attacker said to the victim, “You must be a feminist as you have short hair. The feminist should get punished,” according to the police.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

The ROK Navy recently fielded new submarines that are large enough to house separate living areas for female sailors:

One of the United States’ closest military allies has selected its first group of enlisted women to serve aboard submarines starting next year.

Seven female noncommissioned officers were chosen from more than 20 applicants to undergo training for submarine service, the Ministry of National Defense said in a press release Monday.

Training is expected to last until January or February and is required for all submariners, a South Korean navy spokesman told Stars and Stripes by phone Tuesday.

Two commissioned naval officers selected last month to serve on a submarine are also undergoing training, the spokesman added.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Apparently this odd advertisement in the Korea Times is very popular on Twitter right now:

A bold but cryptic full-page advertisement about the power of women in the US edition of the Korea Times has set Twitter abuzz as concerns about alarmingly low birth rates have persisted in Korea.

The Korean-language daily — the largest in the US, headquartered in Los Angeles with bureaus in New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Hawaii, Toronto and Vancouver — featured the print ad on June 14. The ad simply shows two sentences that read, “The most powerful force of a woman is not giving birth” in both Korean and English.

The two sentences are attributed to “Sung Sam Bang.” The individual’s identity remains unknown, with no clear indication if it is a real name or pseudonym.

At the bottom of the page, a disclaimer from the Korea Times in small print confirms that the advertisement was paid for, but refrains from either supporting or dismissing its content.

A tweet featuring a photo of the ad shared three days later on June 17, saw more than 2.5 million views by June 19, along with nearly 25,000 retweets and over 10,000 likes. Twitter’s viewer metrics include any logged-in user who encounters the tweet, including the author.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

I feel bad for this person because clearly they are suffering from a mental illness, but in today’s media and culture this is actually celebrated. With that all said, despite all these surgeries Oli London looks nothing like a Korean:

London, 31, who underwent multiple surgeries to look like BTS member Jimin, most recently identified as a Korean woman using “they/them” pronouns.

In the May 2 episode of the Channel 4 series, London sat down with a Black woman, who was not named in the video, to discuss whether someone can identify as “transracial.”

“I identify as Korean,” London said. “I used to live in Korea. I was living there for one year. I love the culture, the history, the people. I put myself through a lot of pain, a lot of surgical procedures to have more of a Korean aesthetic. I spent a lot of time learning the language, learning how to cook Korean food.”

London said “people didn’t really get it” when they came out, but they hope to be more accepted over time.

On the other side of the table, the woman opened her response by immediately rejecting the idea of transracialism.

“Transracial does not exist, and I think it’s very, very harmful to push the narrative that it is possible to switch races,” she said.

“I can’t sit up here and suddenly say ‘Oh, I’m a white woman. And if you as a white person says, ‘Oh, I can be Black or I can be Korean,’ and I can’t swap or benefit from the privilege that you benefit from, then it’s clearly not an equal exchange. Because whiteness in this country has been set up in a way. How I interact with the police, how I interact with the medical system can result in me dying.”

Next Shark

You can read more at the link.