Justin Bieber displays one of his tattoos in Miami Beach, Florida. ( EPA-Yonhap)
Around the world, one out of five people have tattoos, design that is drawn on one’s skin by using needles to inject dye. These days, tattoos are causing some social controversies and stereotypes in South Korea. Unlike other open countries such as America and England where tattoos are more acceptable, South Korea has a strict tattoo culture. Because of medical laws in South Korea, tattooing is only allowed to be performed by professionals, who usually are doctors with knowledge in dermatology or cosmetic surgery. As Korea is gradually transitioning to an open society, more people are becoming acceptive of the tattoo culture, and considering having a tattoo themselves.

Tattoos are considered as one form of art, and they are more openly accepted nowadays. However, 25 percent of the respondents of a poll by Harris Interactive said they regretted their decision. Why? First, getting tattoos is an act that comes with high responsibility. Tattoos are lifelong, and they age on people’s body. Some people may think it’s a good thing that tattoos age with their owners, because it’s one way to express oneself, but without proper care, tattoos may be distorted and could end up as a horrible brand on people’s body. Secondly, because of tattoos, people could have social disadvantages. Based on a poll by Harris Interactive, people with tattoos were often viewed as more rebellious, less respectful, less intelligent, and less healthy. For example, some people in South Korea discriminate people with tattoos because of a stereotype that people with tattoos are dangerous. Few decades ago, only Korean gangsters were the ones with tattoos. Furthermore, if people’s tattoos make other people feel threatened in public, , the ones with tattoos are considered as violating a secondary offense law, which they have to pay up to 100,000 Won as penalty.
 
(Poll by Harris Interactive http://www.theharrispoll.com/health-and-life/Tattoo_Takeover.html)

To check how future’s young adults think about having tattoos, I conducted a survey toward 9th grade students in Korea International School Jeju. Based on the survey, 94.3% of students said tattoos should be socially accepted. Also, 88.6% of students replied tattoos are not exclusive for gangsters and bullies, and 71.4% students replied they would have tattoos. Even though we can’t rely only on this survey, I realized that many teenagers were more liberal to tattoo culture, and many of them were even thinking about having one. Therefore, It is possible to have a society where tattoos are more accepted in the near future.

(Survey Taken Toward KISJ’s Students)

However, tattoos not only have adverse effects but also significant advantages. First, they can be used to show personal character. Most of the tattoos people custom for themselves have special meanings. For example, many people get tattoos of their parents' names or a particular symbol of an event as a remembrance. Secondly, tattoos can boost self-esteem. Based on a research held by Texas Tech University, women with tattoos have higher levels of self-esteem than those without tattoos. Lastly, they are beneficial for cosmetic reasons, including eyebrow tattooing. When people get their eyebrows tattooed, they shape and color their eyebrows the way they want to make themselves look more beautiful. This procedure is often performed by people who lost their eyebrows through diverse reasons. Also, many people get cover-up tattoos by tattooing a design on a scar to conceal it. Through this process, people can easily get over traumatic memories that they faced every time they looked at their scars.

 
In conclusion, tattoos are a way of self-expression, getting over trauma, reminisce of memory, and thus should be respected. We are living in a democratic country, where each and every citizen has his own rights to do anything he wants. We have to respect everyone’s decisions on whether they have a tattoo or not, and the one deciding should be responsible of the consequences. In addition, more than 80 percent of tattoo artists in South Korea are mostly illegal artists, and there are no sanctions to the artists immediately. Therefore, I think the law should be more liberal, leading more people to be open minded towards tattoos and leaving no discrimination towards any group of people.

 
 









Dongki Kim
9th grade
Korea International School, Jeju
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