Miss Korea 2018 Opens Up About Trolls Criticizing Her for Being ‘Overweight’ at…

March 25, 2019

Miss Korea 2018 Soo Min Kim received hate from netizens last year after she was crowned the 62nd winner of the South Korean national pageant.

Heavily criticized for her looks online, the 23-year-old was forced to temporarily close her Instagram account.

Weighing at 58 kilograms (130 pounds), the 174-centimeter (5 feet 8 inches) tall beauty queen received mainly negative comments about her weight, with netizens calling her fat and overweight.

Kim would later share the extent of the criticisms back in July in an interview with Asian Boss.

She noted that Korean beauty culture has influenced many to believe that any woman, regardless of her height, is overweight when she goes over 50 kilograms (110 pounds).

“I personally feel like it’s from immensely photo-edited images that we see on our social media,” Kim explained. “We see celebrities showing off their weight, they say ‘I weigh this much’ and they look very pretty. We subconsciously start to think this is the ideal weight and the ideal body. I see a lot of girls who put a lot of effort into losing weight even though they don’t have to.”

Kim started to tear up after she was asked how her parents felt during the influx of negative comments aimed at their daughter.

According to Kim, she felt really bad for her parents for looking at all the negativity thrown at her.

“That was the time that I regretted it the most, participating in this pageant competition,” she revealed.

At the end of the interview, she shared a message to the young girls who look up to her.

“I wish me being on stage and onscreen can make young girls think that they’re not fat at all weighing this weight,” Kim shared. “I wish it could also motivate other young girls to be confident in their bodies and accept the way they look. I want to set that healthy standard on stage for better body confidence.”

Featured Image via Instagram / sookim1001 (Left), YouTube / Asian Boss (Right)

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