I have my doubts as to whether the Korea stats are as thorough as they should be, but a close look at the data (Kimbob’s page provides a link to more thorough data at the bottom, directing you to the source, the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery) indicates that, your contention notwithstanding, the surgery stats in question are primarily cosmetic:

Botox Injection 13.91%
Breast Augmentation 10.56%
Lipopasty 10.17%
Blepharoplasty 9.09%
Rhinoplasty 7.08%
Breast Reduction 5.64%
Facelift 5.45%
Abdominoplasty 4.85%
Fat Injection 3.54%
Breast Lift 3.30%
Restylane Injection 3.27%
Chemical Peel 3.02%
Lip Augmentation 2.69%
Collagen Injection 2.55%
Perlane Injection 2.40%
Otoplasty 1.73%
Forehead Lift 1.60%
PMMA Injection 1.48%
Chin Augmentation 1.43%
Dermabrasion 1.36%
Laser Skin Resurfacing 1.18%
Upper Arm Lift 1.11%
Hydrogel Injection 0.87%
Thigh lift 0.37%
Buttocks Lift 0.35%
Cheek Implants 0.34%
Lower Body Lift 0.32%
Hair Transplantation 0.18%
Gynecomastia 0.14%

I could be wrong, though, and people are actually getting into accidents calling for Botox injections and breast augmentation.

Sure, Roh Moohyun got blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery); he also got a lot of ridicule for it. But is that so unique? Didn’t US Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry get Botox? That’s what Jib-Jab taught me.

Denial or shifting the topic/blame is oh so much more convenient, wouldn?? you say so Robert?

Perhaps. But not as convenient as, say, broad generalizations.

Yeah, that site which kimbop posted is a favorite among Koreans on the internet who try to use it as a way of saying that Korea is not as superficial, vain and obsessed with cosmetic surgery as everyone claims. However, they fail to mention that the term “plastic surgery” in most common statistics refer to any type of reconstructive surgery used for accident victims, disfigurement and almost 95% of the time encompassing ortheopedic countermeasures.

The real measuring stick would be “cosmetic surgery” or “beauty surgery” where you will find Korea at the #1 spot in the list hands down.

http://www.time.com/time/asia/.....story.html

news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/ asia-pacific/newsid_1435000/1435547.stm

www2.law.columbia.edu/course_ 00S_L9436_001/2000/surgery.htm

The list goes on. Just enter “cosmetic surgery” and “korea” into Google and see the hits come up in numbers so high it would take a week to go through them all.

But then again, there is nothing wrong with this. I guess Koreans feel embarassed with admitting the truth because it will show the truth of their insecurity regarding their outward appearance and their obsession with looks and narcissism. I guess denying it is a more convenient option, but you have to really think how far they can rely on this tactic before the normal person sees the reality with his/her own eyes. I grew up my entire life of 32 years in the US and in my dealings never knew a single person who had cosmetic surgery. Furthermore, I have almost 50 more aquaintnaces from all around the Far East (Taiwan, Japan, China, Vietnam) and know of only 2 among those 40 who received the standard eye surgery.

However, within spending less than only 3 months in Korea, among just 15 of the female aquaintances I came to know, 9 of them (more than half) revealed that they had either done the “ssangapul” surgery or had a nose job to narrow down their typically Korean “flat” nose. One girl even revealed to me that she had a bizarre “jaw grinding” procedure done which I had never even heard of and is supposedly unique to Korea because of the specific Korean phenotype which it supposedly addresses. To tell you the truth, she looked almost like a fish because of the extent to which the side of her face was rounded.

I guess it would not be such a big thing for Koreans to comfortably admit this part of your culture if it were not for the fact that they also love to brag about how they are the most beautiful or tallest people among all of Asia. Also, the fact that they curse and show utter contempt, make fun of, and think of themselves as superior to westerners while burning the US flag is even more ridiculous when they spend half of their salary trying to carve their faces up to make themselves look less typically Korean and more caucasian.

A sign for Botox on a discount underwear store in downtown L.A.

The funny thing about Korea Town in L.A. is that it is remarkably like Korea. You have the same types of shops–even ones that you?€™d think would have no business being in America. T…

Although, interestingly, South Korea is also low on the per-capita chart.

I’m impressed by the Swiss, though.