韓國大兵也愛美
An army marches on its sun-block...
A soldier of the South Korean special attack corps paints his eyes during a friendly Taekwondo match at a South Korean Army Base in Pochon, north of Seoul.
Many South Korean soldiers on guard no longer present a rough, sunburnt face to the enemy, a report said Friday.
Some members of the largely conscript army "now rival women in the use of cosmetics, and some even order wigs to disguise their short hair for the vacation," according to the website of Chosun Ilbo newspaper.
In a report headlined "An army of beauty queens?", the paper said one 21-year-old it interviewed spends an average of 110,000 won (117 dollars) a month on bath products and cosmetics.
Besides shampoo and conditioner, he uses toner, moisturiser, essence, sun-block and foam cleanser, it said, noting that his basic pay is only 80,000 won.
"I got worried that my skin would get rough and dark after I joined the army," another soldier was quoted as saying. "If I want to meet my girlfriend during the vacation, I have to take care of my appearance.
"It's not just me. Most people here use at least two or three specialised cosmetics for their skin."
The report said AmorePacific, which supplies cosmetics to over 1,100 Post Exchanges (PXs) across the nation, reported that sales from January through July surged 85 percent from the same period last year.
It said some in the military worried about "Generation Y soldiers obsessed with their appearance" -- but others are sanguine.
"This trend is not just taking place among young soldiers but among young men in general, so I shouldn't be too worried about it," one field officer was quoted as saying.
上週五消息，如今韓國很多站崗的士兵不再是一張粗糙、黝黑的臉面對敵人了。
據《朝鮮日報》網站消息，如今一些應徵入伍的士兵“在用化妝品方面與女性有的一拼了，有些人在度假時，甚至戴假髮來遮蓋自己的短髮。”
據該報一篇題爲《一個“選美”大軍？》的報道，一名21歲的受訪士兵洗浴和化妝用品平均月花銷達到11萬韓元（117美元）。
據報道，除了洗髮水和護髮素外，他還用緊膚水、保溼霜、精華素、防曬霜和洗面奶，而這名士兵的基本工資只有8萬韓元。
該報援引另一位士兵的話說：“我擔心入伍後皮膚會變得又粗又黑。如果放假時要去見女朋友，我必須得注意自己的外表。”
“不僅是我，這裏的大多數士兵都使用至少兩至三種專業化妝品來護理皮膚。”
該報道稱，向韓國1100個軍中福利店供應化妝品的AmorePacific今年1月至7月的銷量比去年同期增加了85%。
據報道，軍隊裏的有些人擔心“新時代的軍人過於注重外表”，但有的人還是很樂觀。
報道援引一位陸軍軍官的話說：“這一趨勢不僅在年輕士兵中盛行，在普通的年輕男孩中也如此，因此我無需太擔心。”
