Black is Beautiful!
Han Hyun Min is a 16-year-old Nigerian Korean Model who is defying the odds by being the first ever dark-skinned model to walk on Korean runways.
Han is the child of a Nigerian father and Korean mother. Despite the fact that he has to deal with discrimination based on his skin colour, he is still fulfilling his dreams of becoming a top model.
In an interview with ‘The Koran times’, he said:
My strength lies in my different look from others. I look different from my outer appearance and I have a different skin colour, which I find the best. I was a super skinny boy standing 184 centimeters tall and weighing 56 kilograms last year. My friends called me anchovy.
“People assume I’m a foreigner,” says Han, who only speaks the Korean language. “I’ve gotten used to it.”
Then he adds: “But I sometimes feel upset when Korean models backstage at a show don’t talk to me because they think I don’t understand Korean.”
Since his first runway show last year, Han has appeared on Korean television and his Instagram followers have surged to more than 26,000. Fans sometimes approach him on the street and ask to take selfies with him.
Han walked in the just concluded Seoul Fashion Week, the biggest fashion show in Korea and appeared in 11 fashion designer shows.
He says he appreciates the positive attention, but acknowledges that his success comes on the heels of what is often a “difficult life” for people like him.
