A former Washington Post journalist has released a new book that details his experiences living and working in South Korea:
In his new memoir, Ahrens, a former Washington Post journalist, tells of the three years he spent in Seoul working for Hyundai and his rough adjustment adapting to a culture that is, in many ways, the polar opposite of how we live in America.
When Ahrens’ wife, who worked for the Foreign Service, received a posting in Seoul, Ahrens was hired by Hyundai to head up their global p.r. effort. But almost two decades in a Washington, DC, newsroom hadn’t prepared him for his new home.
For one thing, Korea’s culture of personal improvement would make a Kardashian blush, as plastic surgery is far more pervasive than in the US. This obsession with appearance is known there as “lookism.”
“South Korean women use on average three times as many daily skin-care products as Western women,” Ahrens writes, noting that plastic surgery is so common, it’s regarded as a major economic engine.
“There is a medical-tourism booth in Incheon International Airport. Korea has the highest number of plastic surgeons per capita and the world’s highest rate of cosmetic surgery. Buses and subway ads all over Seoul show highly graphic, often gruesome before-and-after photos.” [New York Post]
You can read more at the link, but the article describes many things most readers here would probably not be surprised by such as Koreans drink a lot of soju.
