Pann Post About Red Velvet’s Irene Sparks Debate Over Unrealistic Beauty Standards

A viral post on the Korean forum Pann titled “Even Irene Shows Signs of Aging” with a short caption, “Wrinkles…” has reignited heated discussions surrounding unrealistic beauty expectations placed on female celebrities, particularly as they age.

The post targeted Red Velvet’s Irene, who was born in 1991, with comments suggesting she is starting to “show signs of aging” due to visible wrinkles. The backlash was swift and sharp from fans and netizens alike, who pointed out the toxic obsession with youth in Korean media culture.

Comments on Pann [+179;-273]:

1. Wow, seriously… no country obsesses over women’s age like Korea does. Isn’t Irene born in 1991? That’s not even old enough to warrant all this nonsense. Why are people freaking out over her age? If you acted like this overseas, you’d get totally slammed ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ I don’t know if you’re a man or woman, but if you’re a guy, you’re just some incel who doesn’t even deserve to look at someone like Irene, yet here you are critiquing her looks like a lunatic. And if you’re a woman, then you’re just a clueless idiot. Good luck with that ㅋㅋ
2. The reaction at the actual event was hot though. What are you even saying ㅋㅋ
3. She’s just insanely pretty ㅋㅋ Look in the mirror before you talk.
4. She was so pretty she immediately hit No. 2 on Weibo’s real-time search, what are you on about ㅋㅋ
5. Irene’s pitching video got 7 million views in 4 hours in China and hit No. 2 on trending. Even the players and the audience at the event were saying how pretty she looked. But of course, Pann is always the one nitpicking… it’s exhausting.