[The Ministry of Health & Welfare]
South Korea's health ministry came under fire for posting an infographic on its homepage that defined the standards of how women's breasts should look like such as the shape and color of nipples. The controversial infographic disappeared on Friday, a day after it was posted.
The infographic, titled "What beautiful breasts should be!", gave a detailed explanation about the size of breasts, the distance between nipples, and other information about beautiful breasts.
"From the perspective of modern days, beautiful breasts should be plump and bouncy," the post reads. "Each breast should be a size of 250cc, and it's most beautiful when in the shape of a cone."
The health ministry also pointed out that the size of areolas should not exceed four centimeters and should be in a color of light red, describing the breasts as "women's second genital" and a place through which women can express their "meaning and pride".
As the post's screenshots spread across the internet, many online users posted a flurry of critical and angry comments, forcing the health ministry to delete the post and upload a public notice apologizing about it. "We deleted some posts which were considered inappropriate," it said.
"The ministry should be the one who should embrace and care for everyone, not defining which breasts are beautiful," wrote a Twitter user. "I can't imagine how depressed breast cancer patients would get when they see this post."
[Twitter user @ickjong]
Some created contents to mock and sneer at the ministry. Twitter user "@ickjong" uploaded a post and drawing titled "A mimetic diagram for how a beautiful penis should look like."
"KALA555", an online community Clien user, said: "I deeply regret paying tax. I have been paying for the wage of idiots."
Aju News Park Sae-jin = swatchsjp@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com