Model fights 'weighty' issue

Seoul

IN a country with beauty ideals that pre-makeover Barbie would struggle to meet, South Korean plus-size model Vivian Geeyang Kim is facing down online trolls in her defiant campaign to persuade curvy women they have nothing to be ashamed of. Kim has modelled for US firms, but at 5.4 feet tall and weighing 70kg, she was described as "too skinny" for some full-figure fashion show work in America. But in her looks-obsessed homeland, she is constantly mocked and ridiculed on social networks as "flat-out fat" or "disgusting".

"In South Korea, the ideal weight for women is 50kg, and many women who weigh more than that think they are fat," the 30-year-old said. "That is a ridiculous, impossible standard that cripples many South Korean women's self-esteem. And that has to change," she told AFP after a recent photo shoot.