Tattoos in Korea has a very long and controversial history that dates back to the pre-colonial period. The Korean word for tattoo is munshin which literally means the letters engraved in the body. A few decades ago, munshin was mainly common among the gangsters in Korea. Following this, tattoos have become associated with criminality, and people with tattoos in their bodies tend to undergo a lot of isolation in the community ( Kim & Geum, 2016 ). Focusing on tattoo culture within Korean society, many young people are currently getting into this art with some engaging in the business of making tattoos for people. Irrespective of this group of young people who have come out to defy the traditional social norms, tattoos have remained to be unacceptable in the Korean society with those who attempt to get into this culture experiencing a lot of stigma and isolation from the rest of the society members.
Tattoo in Korea is considered to be associated with a crime, and those members of the society who choose to have tattoos in their bodies are deemed immoral and to have defied the social norms of the community. When a person is seen with a tattoo on her/his body, people feel uncomfortable and scared. It is something people have not accepted to be part of their culture and to see a person with it looks strange and unusual ( Kim & Geum, 2016 ). Even family members feel disgusted when one of their own decides to have tattoos in their bodies. This happens even in the families with open-minded parents because of the fear of how the society might judge an individual.
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The particular individuals who have decided to have tattoos in their bodies experience a problematic social life in their day to day activities because of how the society views them. While there are many bathhouses and spas in Korea, people with tattoos are discriminated and not allowed to go to any other resorts other than the ones with foreigners. Due to this stigmatization, some Koreans may have tattoos on their body but still opt to hide them with long clothing so that they are not seen by the society members who are out there to judge them harshly. Even girls who decide to have tattoos in Korea meet a lot of rejection. Fellow ladies are the ones at the forefront in nudging the ladies with tattoos on the streets with some saying things like, “How will you ever get married with tattoos?” and “No man will ever love you” ( Park, 2016 ). This shows the kind of treatment that the Korean society has labelled against young people who have decided to have tattoos.
While putting tattoos is not illegal in Korea, the rejection and isolation that comes with it have hindered man people from doing the art. It is, however, illegal to own a tattoo shop in Korea without a license, and the requirement is that one must be a doctor to own a tattoo shop. Despite this, many people have continued to operate their tattoo businesses at homes illegally away from the police sites. Even though young people have tried to change the preformed notion about tattoos, this has not changed as the society continue to view people with tattoos as anti-social individuals who violate the social norms of the community or even link them to the gangsters ( Park, 2016 ). When one walks in the streets of Korea with tattoos on his/her body, people stare at him/her in disbelief, wondering what is wrong with a person to put such art on the body. This has further created a lot of stigmas thus keeping people away from fully adopting this art culture. The majority still view tattoos as taboo markings which are associated with criminal organizations or men who hope to avoid mandatory military service where tattoos are prohibited.
Many people still dislike the tattoos as a beauty style in Korea. This is primarily with the older people who still believe that people have a beautiful body and by putting tattoos, they are ruining their bodies and going against the social norms. This is evident in Grace Neutral interview with an elderly Korean who says, “For a long time, Koreans have not liked tattoos. Even when President Jun was in power, people who had tattoos were taken away. She’s got a pretty face and nice body, but because of tattoos, she ruined it.” Some parents even disown their children and fail to talk to them just because they decided to put a tattoo. This even forces some of the young people to cover their tattoos while visiting their parents because of the fear for the kind of treatment they could receive. This is seen in Grace Neutral interview where a man claims that he has not spoken with his father for five years because of the tattoos in his body. “Dad has never spoken to me, five years now because of tattoos in my head and beards. He does not like me” ( Grace Neutral Explores Korea's Illegal Beauty Scene , 2018). Some young people have lost their friends and even find difficulty getting a job because of the decision they made to have tattoos on their bodies. This is seen in the interview in Grace Neural documentary where a lady claims she has lost friends because of the decision to have tattoos on his body. In the interview, the lady claims that most of her friends feel uncomfortable with her.
The most affected members of the society are the women who have certain norms guiding what they should do and not do. It is still believed that women with tattoos cannot be loved or get married to any man because they are seen to associate with gangsters or to have defied the norms of the community. This is evident in Grace Neutral documentary when a lady says, “Tattoo is still seen as a bad thing, may be because it got its name from the gang members.” They face criticisms, judgments, embarrassments, and insults thrown at them. This has put a lot of fear among the young people who wish to disregard the traditional culture against tattoos. In Grace Neutral interview, a lady says, “I know I will get people judging and drawing negative assumptions about me.” This shows the way women with tattoos are judged in Korea.
In conclusion, Koreans still believe that tattoos are a bad thing and people who have it are associated with gangsters. Anyone who tries to defy the social norms and has tattoos in Korea goes through discrimination, prejudice, embarrassments and all forms of insults. This makes them unacceptable in society thus subjecting them to a life of isolation and stress.
References
Kim, Y., & Geum, K. (2016). A Study on the Reception and Spread of Tattoo Fashion. Journal of the Korean Society of Costume , 66 (3), 18-31.
Park, J. (2016). Signs of social change on the bodies of youth: tattoos in Korea. Visual Communication , 15 (1), 71-92.
Grace Neutral Explores Korea's Illegal Beauty Scene [FULL FILM]. (2018). Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYfJfCeQ8As
