This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from the KU Center for East Asian Studies.

Tucked into a section of the upscale Gangnam district in Seoul is a place known as the Improvement Quarter or, less euphemistically, cosmetic surgery central. Here, there is nothing but plastic surgery clinics as far as the eye can see. Blepharoplasty –the creation of double eyelids from single – is the procedure of choice and often girls will receive one as a high school graduation gift. But there are other options too: Barbie nose rhinoplasty, forehead volumization and mother/daughter matching surgery. You can’t make this stuff up. Ads tighten the screws: “Everyone but you has done it” they scream. Reality TV shows award a cosmetic procedure to those who can prove that their looks prevent a normal life. And a new word has been added to the Korean lexicon to describe those who have had far too many procedures: sung-gui, plastic surgery monster: Eyetuck. Gangnam style!

From the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.

SOURCE: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/03/23/about-face