Model Launches Body-Posi Mag in South Korea

If you think the U.S. has outrageous beauty standards, think again. In South Korea, plus size is considered above a size 6.

"I’m kind of an alien in Korea," says model Kim Gee-yang to World Crunch. "People who are plus size in Korea, they are not interested in a social life, they don’t go shopping. They don’t want people staring at them."

Frustrated by the sizism in her homeland, Gee-yang started 66/100, a lifestyle magazine featuring plus size models. The name stems from the maximum sizes in Korea for women and men’s clothing, respectively (Gee-yang is an 88).

With little support from her friends and family (“My mother always told me, 'you are so fat and you have to lose weight,' and when I met my friends they said, 'you are fat' or 'lose weight,' " says Gee-yang) she modeled for runway shows in Los Angeles, Miami and the Caribbean, but never in her homeland. With 66/100, Gee-yang is giving South Korean models of all shapes and sizes an opportunity to shine.

Gee-yang is already making an impact in South Korea's beauty culture with 66/100. "I was afraid to have my picture taken. Compared to other people I looked bigger, I always looked sad in pictures, I thought I was ugly," said Lee Hyun-gyeongm, winner of the magazine's first makeover contest in a heartbreaking testimony. "Now my friends and family say I seem so much happier and they say they never knew how pretty I am."