World of the Married’s Han So-hee finds South Korea’s tattoo taboo just won’t rub off
- Inked skin remains a decisive issue in South Korea, where tattoos occupy a legal grey area and body art is forbidden from appearing on air
- Attitudes have been changing, but a recent scandal involving an actress on a hit TV show left little doubt of how the general public feels
The drama, which follows a couple’s journey through betrayal, revenge, grief and healing, broke cable television records with its final episode reaching 28.4 per cent of the country’s households.
Yet, at what should have been a celebratory press conference to mark the conclusion of the series, much of the discussion centred on what appeared to be a blemish on its record.
One of the show’s stars, Han So-hee – who plays a spoilt dancer-turned-Pilates instructor who has an affair with a married man in the show – was forced to answer questions about a real life issue that has struck some South Koreans as just as scandalous as her on-screen love affair. Photos showing her younger self with tattooed arms.
The public’s response to the photos left little doubt that, despite young South Koreans embracing body art in ever larger numbers, tattoos remain very much taboo among large sections of the public.
“This is shocking”, “How can she live with herself”, “She’s pretty but if she were my spouse, I wouldn’t be able to live with her”, were some of the comments online regarding the photos, which are thought to have been taken four years ago and include one of Han smoking a cigarette.