An image of the ideal male Korean face has been rendered from the photos of 16 stars who have led the so-called Korean Wave of pop culture exports.
The computer-generated composite was authored by Rhee Seung-chul, head of plastic surgery at Hanil General Hospital. Rhee had created an earlier composite of the ideal Korean female face using the photos of 19 female stars.
Rhee’s conception of the ideal Korean male face was constructed using portions of the photos of Kang Dong-won, Kwon Sang-woo, Kim Rae-won, Mun Jeong-hyeok, Bae Yong-joon, Jung Ji-hoon, Song Il-gook, Won Bin, Lee Wan, Jang Dong-gun, Jae Hee, Cho In-sung, Jo Hyun-jae, Ji Seong, Ji Jin-hee and Hyun Bin. All are popular in China and Japan as well as Korea.
Rhee used a software called BAPA for “balanced angular and proportional analysis” to construct the composite which depicts a rectangular face with chiseled cheekbones, a clean jawline, above-average-sized eyes, a longish straight nose and full, shapely lips.
Rhee claims to have applied the principle that ultimate beauty can be derived from the average of all the most preferred faces. He says he chose his faces by studying the preferences of internet users.
