[00:00:03] Lehman, killing is a picture of childhood Grace and Poise. But she says not Beauty, what she sees our, her small Asian eyes, but that will change tomorrow. When this 12 [00:00:18] year old, with the permission of her mother gets plastic surgery for more westernized, eyes coloring. If I get the surgery, my eyes will look bigger. She says, do you think you’ll look better after the

Surgery Kita. I’m excited. I think I’ll [00:00:33] look better than I do. Now she’s not alone. Dr. Kim Myung gun personally, performs more than two. Dozen of these surgeries a day as head of souls. Biggest Plastic Surgery, Clinic BK dong young looks like every single one is full. Yeah. [00:00:48] And a patient’s coming out in and out in and out in and out patients of all ages from middle-aged to the Adolescent like mingyang. How many surgeries are performed per day?

And this Clinic, usually a hundred, [00:01:03] a hundred a day, it’s not just eyelid surgery, but nose reshaping to elevate the nose and facial contouring to slenderize a typically, rounder Asian face, when patients come in and talk about why they want [00:01:18] these types of surgeries, what do they tell you? The Chinese and Korean patients, tell me that they want to have some face like Americans. There are hundreds of plastic surgery, clinics, just this one District of Seoul it is an accepted [00:01:33] part of Korean culture because of that the history and the technique of the surgeons. It’s why this place has become the plastic surgery, capital of Asia, a tourist destination, most, notably among newly, Rich globally, competitive, [00:01:48] Mainland Chinese 30% of dr. Kim’s patients are international and of that group. 90% are Chinese told him uh, Chinese doctors to them.

Anyhow. Yeah. [00:02:03] Needs to be Lila and it’s why he speaks. Mandarin. Dr. Kim says, in Asia’s increasingly global economy. He believes appearance is simple math and the equation of success a financial investment in their life. It can have wooden 100 [00:02:18] times Improvement and their investment they can find a much better job if they have pretty faces and too many here, a pretty face is a western one. An image of beauty everywhere, in Asia from American models and Superstars [00:02:33] to wide-eyed, Asian faces. An ideal minkyung recognizes pointing to this blond woman as someone who she thinks is beautiful. And when we look at Asian models, which woman is beautiful. [00:02:48] Why? Why is she ugly her eyes? She responds instantly a global ideal. Doesn’t stop at the face as Dental Surgeon Jung Hawk, who says he’s been fighting a trend Korean Mother’s bringing in their toddlers. To have this muscle [00:03:03] under the tongue surgically snipped. Why the belief that it will help a Korean speak clearly? And the world’s language of success English is that the pressure of globalization as she hung up for 10 years, there’s been this crazy dry for [00:03:18] early. English education, says Dr. Chung mothers long for their kids to have better English pronunciation. That competitive drive is why mink Young’s mother says she’s giving her daughter plastic-surgery.

Who wants the surgery till [00:03:33] I want her to do what she says. Do you think you’re helping your daughter’s future by giving her the surgery? Yeah, yes I think it’ll help her. She adds bluntly. This is a society where you have to be pretty to get ahead. She’s my only daughter.

On the [00:03:48] morning of her surgery. Minkyung sits for a 3D photo session gets a preview of what she will look like and a final consultation with the doctor then heads into a 20-minute surgery, she hopes will make her beautiful. Ultimately, [00:04:03] it comes down to this, you know, it’s a form of cultural imperialism, you know? But it’s Aesthetics. He owns the beauty myth, the surgery carries a totally different meaning to Asian American activist says La based writer Martin Wong. [00:04:18] We spoke via Skype, everything from children getting pushed into these eyelet surgeries to Asian adults. Westernizing their faces for globalization.

Smacks of racial self-hatred, says Wang. They’re making a statement about their own race about where they [00:04:33] come from about who they are. They’re not doing it on purpose. They’re not saying that. They think that they’re inferior looking. They’re not saying that they’re ugly, but that’s the message that they’re giving them the less a month later. Minkyung and her mother email these photos from before [00:04:48] to after. Minkyung says, she’s happy with her new look, she still dancing and now sees more than just her eyes. She sees a brighter future – Kyung Lah CNN Seoul.