Netizens Call Out Viral Community Post Claiming NewJeans’ Hanni Looks “Too Southeast Asian”

Being a foreigner and an idol in South Korea is often described to be a bittersweet experience for most artists. Apart from the obvious stress of living far away from home at a young age, sometimes they face discrepancies in getting paid the same as their Korean groupmates and even face discriminating comments about not looking “Korean enough.”

A few months ago, a TikTok influencer went viral in South Korea after calling out the country’s alleged bias towards people who look East Asian, compared to their disdain towards obviously Southeast Asian people. The TikToker used NewJeans member Hanni as an example, saying that she got more enthusiastic acceptance in South Korea than BLACPINK‘s Lisa because the former looked “Korean-passing.”

NewJeans’ Hanni | @newjeans_official/Instagram BLACKPINK’s Lisa | @lalalalisa_m/Instagram

But it looks like Hanni, too, is not immune from such criticism, just for having an appearance adjacent to her ethnicity. A recent online post has now gone viral in South Korea after criticizing the singer for looking “too Southeast Asian.”

The OP (original poster) posted multiple pictures of Hanni with the caption, “Doesn’t NewJeans’ Hanni look too much like a Southeast Asian?” They added, “She was born in Vietnam but came to South Korea to be a singer.”

| Nate Pann

 

OP also posted a few of her full-body pictures, criticizing that her “proportions are not that good.”

| Nate Pann

Within a day of the post’s upload, it gained over 100,000 views, with netizens mostly jumping into Hanni’s defense. While some said that regardless of her ethnicity, she is good at her job, others called out OP for trying to imply that looking Southeast Asian is somehow a negative trait.

| Nate Pann

• “Is it a problem that a Southeast Asian person looks like a Southeast Asian?”
• “She’s actually my favorite out of the five NewJeans members.”
• “It’s okay as long as she’s not Chinese.”
• “What did Gucci’s stylist do? Why do you hate her so much that you’d make a cute girl become like that? Even my mom doesn’t wear like her.”

| Nate Pann

• “Hanni is the cutest, though…(a passer-by woman in her 30s).”
• “What is the problem with a person from a Southeast Asian country looking like that someone from that region…”

| Nate Pann

• “What’s the issue with being Southeast Asian…? She’s Southeast Asian because she’s Southeast Asianㅋㅋㅋ If you’re short with double eyelids, are you Southeast Asian? Lmao. There’s a truckload of them in Korea, too ㅠ Do you think [Koreans] are born with fair skin?  Whether you have traditionally thin eyes, Mongolian-like faces, or tanned like Northeast Asia, it’s all the same ㅠ There are pretty people all over Southeast Asia too. If they’re also Chinese, the only thing different is their citizenship. They look similar to Northeast Asians too.”
• “She’s good at singing, dancing, and stage presence. She’s pretty and cute. What’s the problem…? Out of all the 4th generation female idols, she is my favorite.”