[Opinion] What Is Skin Color?

How many types of skin tone are there? Anthropologists categorize the humans to five groups, white, yellow, black, red (American Indians) and brown (Southeast Asians) base on color of their skin. But to be exact, white people aren’t really white so are black people. Even for us, there are particularly fair skinned or dark skinned people among us. In that aspect skin color of people varies to many colors. In U.S., in a ‘Skin color’ crayon set there are over eighteen different colors. The U.S., as being a multi-racial country would have that many different skin colors.

▷ For us, there is still only one skin color. That is the specific color, which was labeled in crayons and watercolors as ‘Skin tone’ color.

The ‘Skin tone’ color originate from literal translation of Japanese color name in 1967 when the Korean Agency for Technology and Standard (KATS) set the Korean industrial Standard (KS). Let just say it was a difficult time then to meet foreigners. But now when the world has knitted closer, world of globalization and still there is only one skin tone color?

Japan has already changed their ‘Skin tone’ color name to ‘Pale orange’ four years ago. However nothing has changed for us after thirty-five years. When children paint people’s faces they always use ‘Skin tone’ color.

▷ Fixed idea about ‘Skin tone’ color will encourage racism. So is prejudice against dark skinned children of mixed racial origin or segregation against foreign laborers from Southeast Asia and Africa.

If only ours’ are the ‘Skin tone’ color, what about the rest of the people? A story of a foreign laborer who recently appeared in the TV shamed us all. In the story a child asked his mother

“Why is that man’s face so black?”

“Because he don’t washes his face, dear,” answers his mother.

Difference in skin color is just a difference in amount of melanin in his or her skin.

▷ The State Human Rights Board has filed a petition against KATS for standardizing a particular color as ‘Skin tone’ color, which goes against the equal rights guaranteed by the constitution. It is said that in place of ‘Skin tone’ color, peach or apricot color name are in consideration. It’s late but it’s a good effort. In addition, not only I hope this is a good opportunity to wipeout prejudice against dark skin but to wipeout blind aspiration for fair skin too. Nowadays is a strange world where people buy expensive whitening cosmetics and even take cosmetic surgery to peel their skin white.

Choi Hwa-kyung, Editorial writer bbchoi@donga.com