An elderly Korean man is facing backlash after making rude comments to an American woman who he encountered on the street, advising her to “go on a diet.”
Heechulism, a YouTuber with 1.02 million subscribers, produced a video documenting the experience of an American woman named Jenna living in Korea. During the filming, they encountered an elderly man on a street in Seoul’s Jongno District on the 23rd.
Jenna walked around the street near Gwangjang Market with Yoon Hee Chul (Heechulism), looking at second-hand items being sold. An elderly man sitting on a bench asked Jenna, “Where are you from?”
When Jenna replied, “I’m from California in the United States,” the elderly man suddenly said, “I’ll take care of your health,” and began promoting the items he was selling.
The elderly man mixed Korean and English, asking, “Diet, you want?” When Jenna replied “No,” he continued, “Don’t you want to diet?” while continuing to introduce his products.
The elderly man continued, “Diet very easy. You difficult? One month, 11 pounds out diet. 66 pounds out in six months,” and insisted, “(If you diet) You’ll be very pretty, not very heavy, but very nice.”
As Jenna tried to leave, the elderly man insisted, “Miss, you must do this. Aren’t you going to lose weight?” Grabbing her, he exclaimed, “The earth is heavy!” when Jenna turned away, saying, “I’m not going to lose weight.”
Yoon tried to mediate the situation by saying, “Adults don’t think this is rude. It’s just speaking without knowing it’s rude,” apologizing on behalf of the elderly man and comforting Jenna.
In response, Jenna said, “I’m not upset. If I want to lose weight, I would do it myself. I understand he’s trying to make money,” adding, “In the U.S., if you tell a stranger outright that you need to lose weight, you’ll get punched.”
When Yoon asked again, “You’re not upset, right?” Jenna confirmed, “I’m used to it now since I’ve heard it so many times in Korea. People here say you’d be really pretty if you lost weight and laugh about it like it’s a compliment.”
Yoon said, “He didn’t mean any harm. I was embarrassed next to you. I’m sorry. That old man seems like a good person. I think he’s saying that because he genuinely doesn’t know. It doesn’t seem like we’re just insulting elderly people. Maybe they used to think that was right in the old days, so it would be good to explain it to them now.”
People left comments like, “This old man is a good inspiration. He demonstrated that you shouldn’t act like that when you get old,” “As a Korean, I’m embarrassed. That’s not just offensive to foreigners, but also to Korean women,” “I hate rude behavior from elders,” and “Don’t try to justify him as a good person because he isn’t.”
In response to the concerns and apologies, Jenna added, “Do you agree that when people tell you to lose weight, you don’t want to, right? Don’t worry about me, it didn’t affect me. I have no intention of losing even 1 gram because of someone else’s words.”
