K-pop frenzy? British girl gets tongue surgery to better speak Korean

A British girl who claims to be in love with Korean culture has had her tongue freed to speak its language better, according to Daily Mail.

Rhiannon Brooksbank-Jones, 19, was a typical student dreaming of working Korea in the future. Fascinated by the language, she even visits a local Korean church although she had never visited the country.

“I’d been learning Korean for about two years, and my speaking level is not high, but I was really struggling with particular sounds,” Rhiannon told the Daily Mail.

“It became apparent after a little while that I was having trouble with the Korean letter ‘L(ㄹ)’ which is very frequent and comes from a slightly higher place in the mouth than the English ‘L,’ and that my tongue was too short,” she added.

In order to solve the issue, she consulted a doctor and found out that her tongue was too short. Even though she had no problem speaking English, she had determined to take the operation to speak Korean fluently, which was successful.

The operation was a lingual frenectomy, which cuts some of the connecting tissue between the tongue and the bottom of the mouth. Ironically, newspapers reported in 2002 that children in Gangnam were having the same procedure to help them speak English.

The girl hopes to major in Korean Studies and Business Management at the University of Sheffield, and perhaps also study at Yonsei University in Seoul.

“Korean people can be quite reserved at first, but once you get to know them, they are very warm hearted. They’ll do anything for you,” she also told the Daily Mail.

Her mother said she is very proud of her and she welcomes her interest in other parts of the world, the report added.



By Kang Yoon-seung

(koreacolin@gmail.com)

Intern reporter