Could You Really Become Trans Korean?

Olie London Claims to be Korean After Surgery

Sean Lim
2 min readJul 1, 2021

Olie London has spent over $150,000 on plastic surgeries on nearly two dozen surgeries to look more “Korean” — and as close to BTS’ Jimin in particular. Now, he has declared himself non-binary and trans Korean. Therefore, instead of he, they wish to be referred to as they/them and instead of identifying as a white & British, “they” say they’re now Korean especially after their recent “race transition” surgery. Moreover, it’s no longer Olie. They now go by the name “Jimin”.

If you think it’s odd, please do with that what you will. On a larger context, it does spark a more important discussion Korea should start regarding the groundwork necessary for non-ethnic immigrants to become “Korean”. With the population declining for the first time in 2020, continuous reductions in the workforce and capital pools will hit the economy unless immigration can be encouraged. That means society has to settle upon some rules of what it means to become Korean.

What do you think? Is Olie a controversial start to a new movement? Or should he just be stopped cold? Comment below!

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Originally published at https://www.theseoulite.com on July 1, 2021.

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