Han Hyun-min 한현민
Han Hyunmin (한현민) is a popular model in South Korea, known for being the first Korean model of African descent to walk South Korea's catwalks (Korea Times). His father is Nigerian and mother is Korean, and he has faced a lot of discrimination, especially as a kid due to his different appearance.
Kids teased him for his hair, calling him "broccoli"([4 Angles] Model Han Hyun-min), a sponge, and his skin color, pointing out that he's a Black kid eating 짜장면 (Korean black noodles) ([RADIO STAR] 라디오스타 - Han Hyun-min, I do not speak English, so I cut it in CF ?!20171227). His friends were even told by their parents to not play with him. Throughout his life, he has constantly been seen as a foreigner, with others questioning his Koreanness.
With the help of his mother who constantly told him that he was special, he gained confidence and learned to embrace the attention. Despite his hardships, he was able to become one of the most successful models in Korea and also named as Time's top 30 influential teens of 2017 (Han Hyunmin was chosen as TIME' s '30 Most Influential Teens of 2017' [Happy Together/2018.04.12]).
Place of Birth: Itaewon, Seoul, South Korea
Nationality: Korean
Background of Parents: Father is Nigerian and mother is Korean
Languages Spoken: Korean (native), English (very basic)
Profession: Model
Sentiment Data from Youtube
Is He Really Korean..? Hyun Min is Scared of going Through Immigration [Happy Together Ep 533]
Video Summary
In this clip, Han Hyunmin describes his experiences with immigration in the UK. When he would present his Korean passport, immigration would start to question him in English. However, he can't speak in English, so he would look even more suspicious.
Data Collection Parameters
Collected a random sample of the 65 comments and sorted them into the different categories shown above. Comments could fit into multiple categories. Due to the subjective nature of interpreting the comments there may be some discrepancy in the data.
To see examples of appearance-related comments that fit strictly into one category, view the excel sheet with extracted comments. They are labeled accordingly to match the graph below.
Category Breakdown: Comments on Appearance
Data Analysis
Most of the comments in the sample were about his appearance (38/65), which is likely due to his profession as a model and the fact that the video is about people stereotyping him based on his appearance. Based on the comments related to appearance, it seems like most people accept him as a biracial Nigerian-Korean and find him attractive. There is also a large number of people who think he looks like NCT Lucas.
Han Hyunmin was chosen as TIME' s '30 Most Influential Teens of 2017' [Happy Together/2018.04.12]
Video Summary
The hosts talk about how Hyunmin has earned the title as one of "The 30 Most Influential Teens of 2017" by TIME magazine. Then Hyunmin shares that he feels it was due to the success he has achieved as a model in South Korea despite being biracial. He also shares that since receiving this title, more people have started to recognize him in Korea and abroad.
Note-worthy Timestamps
1:27 Korean host asks, "sorry could you tell me again?" in English
3:30 Hyunmin says, "I think they put me on the list to encourage me to work harder after seeing how hard I work despite the different skin color" to which Sam said "you did well." Then a Korean host mentioned that Hyunmin is stylish and well-proportioned
4:25 Hyunmin describes being recognized by women of color abroad
4:59 Taxi drivers would say his Korean is good before he got famous and ask how long he has lived here, but now they recognize him. He also signs more autographs in restaurants
5:26 Sam praises him and says "there are many interracial families now these children see what he's doing now and get inspired," and others comment that he's a role model
5:44 Korean host asks Sam if he gets jealous of Hyunmin's popularity
5:50 Other Korean host says "come on. He's going to be the President of Ghana"
6:23 Someone asks "Hyunmin, your father isn't Korean, right?"
Data Collection Parameters
Collected a sample of the 33 comments with at least 6 likes and sorted them into the different categories shown above. Comments could fit into multiple categories. Due to the subjective nature of interpreting the comments there may be some discrepancy in the data.
To see examples of comments that fit strictly into one category, view the 2nd tab of the excel sheet with extracted comments. They are labeled accordingly to match the graph above.
Data Analysis
Throughout the video, it seems like the Korean hosts implicitly downplay Hyunmin's experiences and exclude him from the Korean identity. The Korean host speaks English to Hyunmin at 1:27, even though Hyunmin has expressed multiple times before that he cannot speak English. When the hosts talked about Hyunmin's style and stature in response to why Hyunmin feels he earned the title, it demonstrated that they do not grasp the significance of Hyunmin success in getting recognized by TIME magazine and in modeling as a biracial Nigerian-Korean in a society obsessed with pale skin and being "ethnically homogeneous." Additionally, the comparison between Sam, a famous personality in South Korea from Ghana, and Hyunmin was unnecessary and was likely prompted by the fact that they are both of African desecent.
Thus, it shows how biracial individuals in South Korea are subject to prejudices and considered foreigners, regardless of nationality and fluency in Korean due to their appearances.
Most of the comments analyzed in the sample of 33 comments relate to how people are proud of his success (30.8% total). Around half of these comments explicitly stated that they claim him as a Nigerian or African, while in some of the other comments, people were proud of him but wished he learned more about Nigeria. This supports the theory that biracial individuals are more likely to be claimed after achieving success. 17.9% of the comments related to how the Korean hosts seem to still have prejudices against Black or multiracial individuals. Several comments (17.9%) were also about Hyunmin's age, for example how he's successful at such a young age, or that he was assumed to be older. Hyunmin's achievements as a youth is inspiring and is paving the way for other multiracial and Black individuals in Korea and the modeling industry.
These comments demonstrate the impact Hyunmin has on an international-scale as a Korean model who is both biracial and of African descent.