It is minus 3 degrees in Seoul and fans have
been waiting for hours to see their idols.
The falling mercury does not seem to concern
the who's who of Korea's pop music world.
They arrive for another awards ceremony and
cream for the cameras.
You think K-Pop stars are beautiful?
Yes, popular and beautiful!
Their dancing -- perfect.
Their face is different.
Big eyes
This is what sends young Koreans into a frenzy
and has taken the world by storm.
Catchy tunes and flashy performances by doe-eyed
starlets and dapper pin-up boys.
They rarely speak publicly about their penchant
for plastic, but cosmetic surgery among K-Pop
stars is so rampant it is parodied.
You know I'm pretty, but with no surgery?
You wouldn't know the difference.
Idols have all had plastic surgery, you call
me 'plastic monster.'
Plastic face.
But the pursuit for perfection extends much
further than Korea's entertainment elite.
It makes me happy to think that I'll look
prettier after today, I am looking forward
to my surgery.
Hwain has just finished high school, and her
mother has given her a graduation gift.
Eye surgery.
I hope it turns out well and she becomes prettier.
When Hwain looks at herself she thinks she
is ugly.
We don't think this way but she does.
Because every K-Pop star on TV looks so pretty,
like a doll, she sees them as a standard of
what is beautiful.
Hwain will be going to university with new
friends and new opportunities.
So we thought if plastic surgery will help
her feel more confident, maybe it is not such
a bad idea.
Hello.
Hwain is about to undergo what is called double
eyelid surgery.
Her surgeon, Dr Rhee Se Whan will create a
second eyelid to make her eyes look bigger.
It is one of the most popular procedures here
in Korea.
I'm told an increasing amount of teenagers
are asking for this procedure straight out
of high school, before they head to college.
So what I have done is puncture very small
holes where her second eyelid will be.
The whole procedure is over in 40 minutes.
Hwain will spend a short time in recovery
before heading home, and will return in a
week to have her stitches removed.
K-Pop stars and Korean celebrities have influenced.
If you look at a before and after picture
of a K-Pop star, you will see that they have
gotten prettier.
When people see the change, they want to be
pretty as well.
They want to look as good as them.
Like Hwain, Gina, Sally and Laura are recent
high school graduates, and have agreed to
meet me to talk about image and plastic surgery.
I don't think any celebrity has not retouched
their face.
We grab a few magazines and head to a nearby
cafe.
Almost everyone gets it - especially in normal
high schools.
Once people graduate, almost all of them get
double eyelid surgery done.
Have you felt pressured to do it?
I've thought about it.
Not in America, but in Korea, there are so
many more people who are talking about it.
You think, "Oh, should I get it done too?"
Two of the girls also went to high school
in the US.
They say surgery is driven by an admiration
of celebrities.
That is the difference.
Like, in America, you will say, "I want a
skinnier nose."
But in Korea, they say, "I want the eyes of
whoever, I want the nose of whoever.
Please make my nose into the style of this
star."
Who are we looking at here?
They are 9 girls and they are in an idol group
called Girls Generation.
Have they had surgery?
Yeah.
Definitely!
All of them - 100%!
Many, many, many plastic surgeries.
Many!
Every time they come out, they come out with
surgery...Their faces change.
Eyelid surgery can cost up to $2,000.
If you cannot afford it, the girls tell me
there is another way of getting the coveted
big eyes.
This is what Koreans call the double eyelid
sticker.
I've never used it before but according to
my friends, they said that it is the easiest
and the cheapest way of making double eyelids.
I took it off!
So it looks like a half moon.
Yes!
Look at her eyes!
This is the district of Gangnam, home to K-Pop's
major entertainment companies, and it's also
home to South Korea's beauty belt - an area
of the highest concentration of plastic surgery
clinics in the world, which caters to an ever
increasing foreign clientele.
So from here the entire street has more than
300 plastic surgery clinics.
This street alone.
Yes, this street alone, each building has
more than three or four plastic surgery clinics.
Artist Eunjeong says the rapid growth of Koreas
plastic surgery industry is concerning, especially
because of its connection to the entertainment
world.
They send people from the agencies, they can
get discount and then from that, they can
use their face for the commercial advertisement.
Even the subway has become a billboard for
cosmetic surgery.
They change their facial shape, they cut down
their cheekbone, made their eyes bigger their
face, their eyes change.
They make big eyes, front and back, and they
put some fat underneath.
They implant hair.
Eunjeong knows the passageways well - they
inspired her to create an art installation
on what she calls Korea's obsession with beauty.
They choose one or two types of very beautiful
women, with an ideal face.
And every woman tries to turn into exactly
the same.
This is my studio, and this work is from my
exhibition Body Factory.
Every work in here comes down to the people
losing their identity.
That is why they treat their body as a product,
they are losing the meaning of who they are.
Do you feel like that is happening as a society
here?
Yes.
Because I heard it described as a plastic
surgery obsession.
Yes.
Do you think that Korea is obsessed with plastic
surgery?
I don't think it is obsessed with plastic
surgery but obsessed with the way they look.
We are heading outside Seoul's city to meet
a man who's had several procedures done to
his face on his jaw, his nose, his eyes.
Now, while it is true that more women get
plastic surgery here in South Korea, it is
by no means exclusive to women.
A growing number of men are also getting surgical
procedures.
If you cut your jawline a bit, I think you
could be really pretty.
At just 21, Hwan Kim has had 17 procedures
so far.
The number of times?
I have done my eyes three times, my nose once,
my chin, cheekbones, my squared jawline.
And that's not counting botox injections and
fillers.
You don't want to show us the pictures?
Why?
I'm embarrassed.
Shame, shame.
This is what Hwan looked like before he began
to reshape his appearance.
I had a complex about my appearance, so the
most important thing is when I met up with
people I used to wear a mask or when I talked
to people, I'd always cover my mouth.
Hwan has spent $30,000 on cosmetic surgery.
And his friends want surgery too.
My nose, cheekbones, chin and what else did
you say?
Botox!
I want to get braces and shave down my jaw.
Night falls and the city streets come alive.
Hwan and his friends are getting ready for
a night out.
He says his cosmetic compulsion is paying
off.
Now I have a lot of confidence in the way
I look, I want to meet people, I want to meet
girls and I really believe this has been made
possible through plastic surgery.
In another dimly-lit room on the other side
of Seoul is a very different music world.
Playing tonight is an indie band called Love
X Stereo.
Its front woman, Annie, has invited me to
watch them perform.
She spent years in the pop industry signed
to a mainstream entertainment company as a
solo artist.
In order to make it big, she was told to change
her sound, and her face.
They liked my voice, but they didn't like
my appearances, so they wanted me to have
plastic surgery here and there, like nose,
my eyes.
They occasionally talked about my teeth a
lot because I have very - yeah, rabbit teeth.
Why did you decide against it?
Because I like my face.
The band rehearses and records in its own
small rented space.
Each member has a second job to support themselves
- a small price to pay, says Annie, for creative
freedom.
Some of the criticisms of K-Pop has been that
it is a very manufactured industry.
Yeah, absolutely.
It is.
They kind of, you know, recruit young kids,
like 13, 14, and they make something - they
kind of grow them into - in a certain way,
and cut them along the way, and make a group.
Here we go, this is the band!
K-Pop dominates much of Korea's entertainment
news.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the show,
we are happy to have you here with us on Showbiz
Korea Time.
Adrien Lee hosts Showbiz Korea, a daily entertainment
show broadcast around the world on Korea's
only English-speaking network.
We have some K-Pop news coming your way - big
news, actually.
Adrien also hosts his own radio show on Korean
culture.
He says even though pop stars get surgery
to improve their prospect, talent still plays
a big part in the K pop industry.
No matter how much plastic surgery you get,
it will not make you a big star.
You need to have talent.
Maybe on top of that, later on you can add
a plus alpha, with a little bit of plastic
surgery, but that won't initially play a big
role for you to become a huge star.
As he shows me around the network, we meet
a group hoping to become the next big thing.
We just bumped into a group, coming into record
a show here at Arirang.
You mentioned stuff about the visuals, the
looks.
You can have a look - this is a new group.
Can you introduce yourself.
One, two, three...
Purple, purple, Purpley.
Hello, we are Purpley!
OK, there you go!
Great!
That is how they introduce themselves.
So many young people look up to them, and
think they are really attractive.
Good!
We're very nervous, we hope to have a lot
of influence on the younger generation.
They tell me they have not had any surgery.
But, as they walk away, I wonder whether that
will change.
18-year-old Hwain has returned to her clinic
a week after her eye surgery to have her stitches
removed.
Her eyelids are still swollen, but she is
positive about the result.
Are you happy with your surgery?
Yes.
Yes, I'm happy.
And mum is also satisfied.
Well, double eyelid surgery generally makes
people prettier, I think Hwain will look even
prettier, more than I expected.
Ten minutes after arriving, Hwain leaves with
new eyes.
The first step, I'm told, to becoming beautiful.
