“Are all the singers on television music programs twins?” new broadcast guidelines asked. Critics compared them to the censorship handed down during the country’s dictatorship.
HONG KONG — Doe-eyed with delicate features. A sharp jawline and willowy figure. Fair skin so clear it almost glows.
With many South Korean pop idols fitting that description in their sleekly produced music videos, their mass appeal has many of the country’s young people wanting to look just like them.
But in an effort to tone down their influence in a beauty-obsessed country where plastic surgery is rampant, South Korea’s government is trying to limit the stars’ presence on television, saying they look too much alike.
“Are all the singers on television music programs twins?” the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family wrote about the stars of K-pop, as their music is known, in broadcast guidelines released this month, according to The Korea Times.
“They seriously look identical,” it said, adding that many pop idol groups’ musical styles were “just as limited as their appearances.”
The guidelines drew such criticism from fans that on Tuesday the ministry apologized for “causing unnecessary confusion,” and said that some of the recommendations would be removed or reviewed, the news agency Agence France-Presse reported.
