The Ordeal Of A Fast Rising South Korean-nigerian Model - Family - Nairaland
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| The Ordeal Of A Fast Rising South Korean-nigerian Model by GetUmad: 4:31am On May 17, 2017 |
Han Hyun-min strides down the runway with an expression of emotionless confidence, before pivoting around in front of the rows of photographers whose cameras click in rapid fire. Han is 15 and fast becoming a regular on the catwalk, making his third appearance at the recent Seoul Fashion Week - a biannual event for South Korean designers. For one show, Han sported patched jeans and a plaid shirt partially covered by a puffy, silver vest. The high school student is lanky. He has what Youn Bum, his agent at SF Models, calls a "distinct look", making him a rare commodity in the domestic market - and a victim of prejudice. Han is his country's first black Korean model. "People assume I'm a foreigner," says Han, who only speaks the Korean language. "I've gotten used to it." Then he adds: "But I sometimes feel upset when Korean models backstage at a show don't talk to me because they think I don't understand Korean." Since his first runway show last year, Han has appeared on Korean television and his Instagram followers have surged to more than 26,000. Fans sometimes approach him on the street and ask to take selfies with him. He says he appreciates the positive attention, but acknowledges that his success comes on the heels of what is often a "difficult life" for people like him. Han is coming of age in South Korea , one of the world's most ethnically homogenous countries, as it undergoes the greatest demographic shift in its modern history. Immigration has brought with it an increase in the number of children who are the offspring of a Korean citizen and foreign national, primarily from Southeast Asia. Close to two million foreigners live in a country of 50 million. The number of multi-ethnic persons is expected to reach 300,000 by 2020, up from 40,000 a decade ago, government statistics show. Han, born to a Korean mother and Nigerian father, has only ever lived in South Korea. He admits to "not knowing much" about Nigerian culture. Growing up in Itaewon, a Seoul neighbourhood that's long been an enclave for migrants, Han says he has many friends who are "mixed blood", the literal translation of the Korean term for "biracial" Han appears in a YouTube video in which he's approached by a Korean comedian who attempts to strike up a conversation in English. In this apparently staged encounter, the host seems surprised that Han doesn't understand him and he switches to Korean; the implied gag is that this teenager who looks African actually is Korean. To Gregory "Chan-wook" Diggs-Yang, chairman of the Movement for the Advancement of the Cultural-diversity of Koreans (MACK), this kind of "joke" suggests that many South Koreans still aren't ready to "accept a Korean who doesn't look Korean". Diggs-Yang, 42, is the son of an African American father and Korean mother and spoke with Al Jazeera from Seattle, Washington. He points out that other black Koreans like the singer Insooni and NFL MVP Hines Ward achieved acclaim in South Korea, but didn't change overall attitudes towards mixed-race people. Diggs-Yang sees Han's success, however, as an indication of greater social openness towards mixed-race Koreans. For a black Korean to make it in the fashion industry is a sign that "things are going in the right direction", he says. "To be considered beautiful is really great for a mixed Korean," Diggs-Yang says. Han says he hopes that his success can somehow inspire other biracial Koreans, although he notes that he "hasn't accomplished enough yet to be considered a role model". But Han doesn't want to be known as "multicultural" - he thinks it carries with it a notion of "pity". "I prefer to be called 'mixed blood'," he says. "I'm not ashamed about it. "People assume I'm a foreigner," says Han, who only speaks the Korean language. "I've gotten used to it." Then he adds: "But I sometimes feel upset when Korean models backstage at a show don't talk to me because they think I don't understand Korean." Since his first runway show last year, Han has appeared on Korean television and his Instagram followers have surged to more than 26,000. Fans sometimes approach him on the street and ask to take selfies with him. He says he appreciates the positive attention, but acknowledges that his success comes on the heels of what is often a "difficult life" for people like him. http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/04/south-korea-black-model-170406081325926.html
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| Re: The Ordeal Of A Fast Rising South Korean-nigerian Model by whitebeard(m): 4:54am On May 17, 2017 |
 there is no where Nigerians leg can't get to..! |
| Re: The Ordeal Of A Fast Rising South Korean-nigerian Model by Nobody: 4:55am On May 17, 2017 |
For a Korean brother you tall ooo |
| Re: The Ordeal Of A Fast Rising South Korean-nigerian Model by Benekruku(m): 5:03am On May 17, 2017 |
Kuchi Kuchi kat ara chun sa dek cha mai sun Proudly SK |
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