Han Hyun-Min, South Korea’s First Black-Korean Model

 

Han Hyun-Min is a 16-year-old South Korean model. He has lived in Seoul all his life and only speaks Korean.

But, people in South Korea often think he is from somewhere else.

Han’s mother is Korean and his father is Nigerian.

He is the first black-Korean model to take part in South Korea’s fashion shows.

Agence France-Press news agency spoke¹ with Han and his agent, Youn Bum², last month. An agent is someone who helps models get jobs by contacting fashion designers and magazines.

Youn signed Han as a model after seeing Han’s Instagram photos and his “electrifying³” walk, AFP reported. However, he knew that signing Han was a risky⁴ move because of his darker skin.

“A dark-skinned fashion model like Han was unheard of in South Korea,” Youn told AFP.

At first, many Korean fashion designers and magazines dismissed Han and Youn because of Han’s dark skin. But a few designers liked his looks.

Since he started modelling, Han has been in more than 30 fashion shows during two Seoul Fashion Weeks. That is a high number for a beginner.

Despite Han’s success, people still question whether he is Korean. That is something that many Koreans with dark skin experience.

Mixed families

Lily Lee is from South Korea. She has two daughters named Yuri and Dasomi. Her children are biracial. Lee’s husband, James, is from Kenya.

Lee publishes videos on YouTube about her biracial family.

Lee said James was the first black person that she and her parents ever met. She said her mother did not want her to marry James.

“She was always like ‘just date, but don’t think about getting married,’” Lee said of her mother.

Lee said her parents worried that if she had children with James, the children would have a difficult life.

She said, “The reason that they were being against (our relationship) was (because) our children will be discriminated⁵ (against). Definitely. Because the skin color and also (James is) from Africa.”

In Korea, people often stared at Lee’s daughters. She said it is “hard since I look different from them.”

One of Lee’s daughters once told her that she wished she had a yellow face like her mother.

“I don’t think she hates her skin,” Lee said. “It’s just she wanted to be like me.”

In 2012, Lee and her family moved to the United States for her husband’s education.

What is Korean-ness?

Foreigners make up less than 4 percent of South Korea’s population.

Africans and African-Americans are a small percentage of South Korea’s foreign-born population.

Khiana Robinson lives in South Korea with her family. She and her husband have taught English in Daejeon for seven years. They are African-American.

Robinson said that her family has experienced racism⁶ in South Korea. But she said it is usually because of ignorance – or a lack of knowledge and experience. She said the only time most Koreans have ever seen a black person is on television. Because of that, she says, many Koreans view Africans as poor and African-Americans as violent.

Robinson said that in Korea, people are considered either Korean or foreign.

Lee said that having “Korean blood” is very important in South Korea. Someone who is not Korean by blood is seen as the “other,” she explained.

“We’re proud of being just one tribe, one blood,” Lee said. “If you see someone else looking different then he can’t be Korean. He can’t be Korean. They’re just not Korean basically.”

South Korean foreign workers

South Korea is a very modern country with a strong economy.

According to the Financial Times, it also has a highly educated population. This has led to a shortage of unskilled workers in the country. In order to fill factory jobs, South Korea gives visas to workers from Asian and African countries.

Lee said foreigners in South Korea with darker skin often work in factories, while foreigners with lighter⁷ skin often work as English teachers. She said many Korean people make judgments⁸ about people based on their skin tones.

Robinson said people with darker skin in South Korea experience discrimination. She said some companies only want to hire people who are lighter-skinned. That gives people with darker skin fewer chances to get a good job.

Youn Bum, Han Hyun-Min’s agent, told AFP that many designers and magazines would tell him, “’We don’t do dark-skinned models,’ or, ‘For us, non-Korean models means white models with blue eyes and blond hair’.”

Both Lee and Robinson have traveled to many other countries. They both said that South Korea is not the only country where people view darker skin negatively.

Looks and beauty

Lee is not raising her daughters in South Korea. However, when her family visits South Korea, she said people often bring attention to her daughters’ appearances. They mostly react positively⁹.

However, she said, “They don’t think that they can be Korean…Like there has to be something else, you know. Not Korean.”

Lee said she hopes people can change their thoughts about what it means to be Korean. And she hopes that the idea of “Korean-ness” can include biracial Koreans, too.

Lee said Han Hyun Min, as South Korea’s first biracial model, is leading the way.

“I feel like he (identifies) himself more culturally and everything like being Korean,” she said.

And she hopes that Han’s Korean identity will cause people to “actually accept more and more biracial people,” she said.

I'm Ashley Thompson.

And I'm Olivia Liu.

Words in This Story

fashion - n. a popular way of dressing¹⁰ during a particular time or among a particular group of people

electrifying - adj. causing great excitement

biracial – adj. a person whose parents are of different races, ethnicities or nationalities

date – n. a meeting between two people which may result in a romantic relationship

stared – v. to look at someone or something for a long time

hire - v. to give work or a job to (someone) in exchange for wages or a salary?

tones – n. a shade of color

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 bum   

n.臀部；流浪汉，乞丐；vt.乞求，乞讨

参考例句：

• A man pinched her bum on the train so she hit him.在火车上有人捏她屁股，她打了那人。
• The penniless man had to bum a ride home.那个身无分文的人只好乞求搭车回家。

3 electrifying   

v.使电气化( electrify的现在分词 )；使兴奋

参考例句：

• The dancers gave an electrifying performance. 舞蹈演员们的表演激动人心。
• The national orchestra gave an electrifying performance of classic music. 国家交响乐团举行了一次古典音乐的震撼性演出。 来自辞典例句

4 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

5 discriminated   

分别，辨别，区分( discriminate的过去式和过去分词 )； 歧视，有差别地对待

参考例句：

• His great size discriminated him from his followers. 他的宽广身材使他不同于他的部下。
• Should be a person that has second liver virus discriminated against? 一个患有乙肝病毒的人是不是就应该被人歧视？

6 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

7 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

8 judgments   

判断( judgment的名词复数 )； 鉴定； 评价； 审判

参考例句：

• A peculiar austerity marked his judgments of modern life. 他对现代生活的批评带着一种特殊的苛刻。
• He is swift with his judgments. 他判断迅速。

9 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。

10 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。