Truth About Koreans' Obesity Rate
Truth About Koreans' Obesity Rate
4 out of 10 are obese, report says
안녕하세요, it’s Ari, your friendly Korean source and weekend reminder 🎉 Today’s newsletter is about a recent Koreans’ obesity rate report, a theme park employee’s rap went viral, and a healthy summer noodle recipe. Let’s start!
🎧 You can listen to this newsletter on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or other your favorite podcast platforms.
🫢 Truth about Koreans' Obesity Rate
South Korea is known as one of the least obese countries in the world with the obesity rate of only 4.7% according to 2016 statistics. But according to a recent report from Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, 4 out of 10 Koreans are obese and half Korean men are obese. You might be confused to hear the news. How come Koreans got fat this fast?, you might wonder. Actually, the Korean standard of “obese” is different from the global standard. In my country, a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or more is considered as obese, rather than 30 or more. So I think, by the global standard, you can say 4 out of 10 Koreans are overweight or obese and half Korean men are overweight or obese.
Though my country may still be one of the least obese countries, as you can see from the above table from the report, Koreans gained weight big time especially after the pandemic had started. In 2020, the obesity rate (BMI of 25 or more) increased from 33.8% to 38.3%. It’s the biggest year-to-year increase during the past 20 years. The chief of KDCA said, “Physical activity levels have declined and the prevalence of chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes has increased.”
What made the above table recently went viral in Korea is the stark difference of obesity rate between men and women. While the increase of women’s obesity rate is only 2.7% in 2020, the increase of men’s rate is 6.2% during the same period. Add to that, the rate difference between men and women kept growing even before the pandemic. As a result, Korean men’s obesity rate is 48% while the women’s is only 27.7% in 2020. In particular, the most obese group is men in 30s with the obesity rate of whopping 58%.
The stark difference of obesity rate between men and women is not hard to explain. It’s because social pressure to be slim is much stronger on women than men in the country. So a lot of Korean women are constantly on a diet. (I’m on a diet, too 🫠) Also I feel that girls are more active than boys these days. When you go to a K-Pop concert in Seoul, you’ll see most of audience are girls and they’re screaming and waving lightsticks while standing for 3 hours. But a lot of boys are at 피시방 (PC cafe) playing games while sitting in a chair.
🎤 Mic Drop- Soulless theme park employee
Today’s mic drop line is a rap/instruction of a Korean theme park part-time employee which went viral in the country. In Everland, the biggest theme park in Korea, there’s an attraction called, Amazon Express, where people tour Amazon-like rainforest while riding on a boat. Before touring, an employee gives people instructions and warnings in rap. And one employee’s rap went viral for her tired tone and great rap skills ☝ Since her rap got so popular that she even became an ad model for the theme park. Below is a part of her rap (from 0:06),
머리 젖습니다. 옷도 젖습니다. 신발 젖습니다. 양말까지 젖습니다. 옷, 머리, 신발, 양말 다 다 젖습니다.
The line means, “Your hair gets wet. Your clothes get wet, too. Your shoes get wet. Even your socks get wet. Clothes, hair, shoes, socks, they all get wet.” I picked this part because it’s full of basic and essential words about what you wear.
Words in the line,
머리 Hair, head
옷 Clothes
신발 Shoes
양말 Socks
젖다 V. To get wet (variations: 젖어요 - 젖습니다)
다 All (synonym: 전부, 모두)
👄 You can practice speaking the line on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or other your favorite podcast platforms. Don’t forget to send me your voice message 👇 If you send it by 4 pm Wednesday, July 20th ET, your voice will be on the next podcast episode!
🍜 Kong-guksu
Today’s food is one of Koreans’ favorite summer food. I had this food 3 times during this summer 😋 It’s called 콩국수 or kong-guksu. “Kong (콩)” means “soy” and “guksu (국수)” means “noodle.” It’s basically thin noodle in cold and ground soy water. It’s a great vegetarian food and healthy meal that is super simple to make. In Korea, you can buy soy water (콩물) which is ground soy with water at a grocery store. When you don’t have the soy water, you can make it at home with tofu and unsweetened soy milk. Grind tofu and soy milk, add a pinch of salt, and then cook thin noodle to wash in cold water and drain. Put the noodle in a bowl and pour the soy milk and, lastly, add toppings like chopped cucumber. Watch the cooking video (till 2:10) and try for yourself to stay cool in summer!
📢 Before I go, I have an announcement about my newsletter/podcast. From next week, The Legit Korean will change its name as Annyeong Ari 👋 “Annyeong” means “Hello” (or “Bye”) and it’s mostly used between friends here in Korea. The more I write my newsletter, the more I feel that I’m writing to my friends in the world. I hope you take me as your talkative Korean friend who loves to rap ㅋㅋ Though the name changes, many things will remain the same including Korean food recipe and Mic drop. There will only be a small layout change. Hope you like my new newsletter/podcast!
Thanks for reading! If you liked my newsletter, ❤👇, share, or leave a comment. Don’t forget to send me your voice message 🎤 See you next week! 안녕 👋