Jung Da-hyun is a reporter at The Korea Times, covering social issues in Korea, including foreign residents, education, environment and politics. Driven by a deep interest in people’s stories, she focuses on investigative and feature reporting through direct interviews and field coverage. She received the Amnesty International Korea Media Award for her “Deepfake Crisis at Schools” series. Reach her at dahyun08@koreatimes.co.kr. Always open to hearing your stories.
1 in 5 normal-weight Korean women see themselves as obese
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By Jung Da-hyun
Nearly two in 10 normal-weight Korean women perceive themselves as obese, according to a recent survey. The findings are raising concerns over the use of increasingly popular injectable weight-loss drugs among people who are not obese.
According to a survey by the Korean Society for the Study of Obesity (KSSO), Monday, 18.9 percent of normal-weight women aged 20 or older perceived themselves as obese. The findings were based on data from adults who participated in the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency's Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2022 and 2024.
The figure was more than four times higher than among normal-weight men, only 4.1 percent of whom perceived themselves as obese.
Under the KSSO’s obesity treatment guidelines, body mass index (BMI) — calculated by dividing weight by height squared — is classified into five categories: A BMI of 18.5 to 22.9 is considered normal weight, 23 to 24.9 pre-obesity, 25 to 29.9 stage 1 obesity, 30 to 34.9 stage 2 obesity and 25 or higher is categorized as stage 3 obesity.
Among women classified as pre-obese, 66.9 percent perceive themselves as obese.
The tendency to perceive oneself obese was highest among adults aged 20 to 39, regardless of gender. Among all adults in this age group, 15.7 percent of normal-weight people and 54.8 percent of those classified as pre-obese considered themselves obese.
At the same time, the number of prescriptions for GLP-1 antagonist drugs used for weight loss, such as Wegovy and Mounjaro, has been rising rapidly.
According to data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service submitted to Rep. Han See-a, a member of the National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Committee, Mounjaro was prescribed over 1.5 million times in the 10 months between its launch in Korea in August last year through May this year.
People in their 20s and 30s accounted for 52.9 percent of all prescriptions during the period.
While weight-loss drugs can be effective in treating obesity, their use by people of normal weight may increase the risk of side effects, including nutritional deficiencies and muscle loss. Concerns are growing over the use of weight-loss medications by those without a medical need.