Han Hyun-Min; a 15-year-old biracial kid who has both Korean and Nigerian parents and is a budding Korean model.
While biracial offsprings seem to be commonplace in modern-day marriages, some countries still remain largely homogeneous, making the occurrence of such a tad bit weird and seemingly out of place.
Mentioning countries like South Korea would bring up generic images of Asians of the same colour inhabiting their cities in millions, with one not even pausing to think that there could even be biracial Asian children in their mix.
Han Hyun-Min is fast becoming a regular on the catwalk, making his third appearance at the recent Seoul Fashion Week – a biannual event for South Korean designers. For one show, Han sported patched jeans and a plaid shirt partially covered by a puffy, silver vest, Al Jazeera reports.
Lanky looking Han Hyun-Min strides down the runway with an expression of emotionless confidence, before pivoting around in front of the rows of photographers whose cameras click in rapid-fire.
The high school student is lanky having a “distinct look”; a rare commodity in the domestic market and a victim of prejudice.
“People assume I’m a foreigner,” says Han Hyun-Min, 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 Hyun-Min has appeared on Korean television and his Instagram followers have surged to more than 26,000 with fans sometimes approaching him on the street to take selfies with him.
He says while he appreciates the positive attention, his success comes on the heels of what is often a “difficult life” for people like him.
Al Jazeera also reports that Han Hyun-Min who was born to a Korean mother and Nigerian father has only ever lived in South Korea.
He admits to “not knowing much” about Nigerian culture.
Growing up in Itaewon, a Seoul neighborhood that’s long been an enclave for migrants, Han Hyun-Min says he has many friends who are “mixed blood”, the literal translation of the Korean term for “biracial”.
But that diversity didn’t spare Han Hyun-Min from bullying.
“Some classmates used to say things like, ‘You have a Korean mum, so why do you look black?'” he recalls. “I got a lot of dirty looks and I felt people were disgusted by me.”
But Han Hyun-Min says he doesn’t dwell on those unpleasant memories, preferring to focus on his budding career instead.