Why are South Koreans so tall in comparison to other Asians?

[Anonymous]

They share a history with China which in my experience with Chinese has tended to always be very short. The same is true with Japanese, Filipinos, Cambodians etc.

I live in Korea so I'm not speaking out my ass. Koreans are statistically the tallest Asians. They're very often near the same height as me and I'm 6ft.

You'd think it was related to diet... but meat is one of the key ingredients for growth and that's incredibly expensive here. So often that's avoided frequently, rice is common but that's a staple diet of most Asian countries. I wonder because Korea is a small country itself and is very homogenous.

[Sarahyy]

I am Korean and I grew up in Korea so I can answer probably more accurate than anybody here who answered.
I am 5.5" and female. Am I tall in Korea? No.
My grandfather was 6" tall and he was born in 1930s. He was very skinny and he barely eat anything but he was 6" tall. He is tall in USA, Canada, and of course Korea, even most of European at the time.
From my opinion, I don't think that the race is related to the height. It is more likely associated with an individual DNA, foods, environment. I've seen a Caucasian man who are very short. I've seen an Asian man who is extremely tall.
Many South Asians are shorter than East Asians. But, many South Asians are vegetarians. So, you can't really determine whether they are short because of their genetics or just simply because they are vegetarians.
Many South Koreans eat similar foods as European but they consume more vegetables and less meat. Most of traditional Korean foods are based on vegetables.
Most North Korean are short but they are vegetarians and if you see the picture of North Korean man, they look like a skeleton. Meat and daily foods are extremely expensive there and most civilians cannot consume those foods. So, of course they are short. Europeans were used to be short as well before WWII. It is just a stereotype that Europeans are taller than Asians, etc. You can judge it because some Europeans are shorter than Asians while some are taller. There are a lot of variations.
Most Koreans have to study a lot and most students barely sleep. If most Korean students sleep as much as European students, I am pretty sure that the average height in Korea will go up at least 5 cm. Most Korean students sleep around 12 am or later. In addition, most Korean students cannot do exercise as much as European students. Same reasons. You have to study almost 14 hours a day. Exercise is not considered as "important" in Korea unless you are Athletics. Most sport players in Korea are over 6" or close to 6". So, if Korean students do as much as exercise and sleep as most European students, Korean people can easily pass 5.9" as the average height.

Most North Chinese and North East Asians are tall. Korean are very close to North Chinese and Mongolian (North East Asia). So, you can easily understand why Koreans are taller.

But again, I do not think that the race is linked with the height. If that so, the tallest race on the Earth is actually African. Africans people are supposed to be taller and mostly muscular. But if you go Africa, Africans are not much taller than Cambodians. Same reasons. Most people are poor there and cannot eat meat and daily foods. That's why if you see USA sport teams, most team members are African American.

Genetic is a mystery.

You can have a Mongolian blood in your body even if you are 100% Caucasian.
Same.
You can have a African blood in your body even if you are 100% Caucasian.
Same.
You can have a Caucasian blood in your body even if you are 100% Asian or 100% African or whatever.
Human history begins between 160,000 and 195,000 years ago.
If you think that your ancestor only marry to your neighbor for ~100,000 years, you are wrong.
Most people are naturally attracted to people with different culture or background etc.
Many man were used to marry with multiple wife. If you have a blond girl as a first marriage, you might want to try a brunette girl as a second marriage, a Spanish girl, a black girl, an Asian girl, etc.

So, in the end, why are South Koreans so tall in comparison to other Asians?
They eat better foods. They mostly consume meat and daily foods while other Asians (especially South Asians) are mostly vegetarians.

[Izzy2102]

that's actually not quite true. South Koreas average is within a few cm of other east Asian countries. Such as japan, or north china. Looking at Beijing only it's even taller on average with 5'9 for men. It's a well known fact that people in the south of china are far shorter than their countrymen in the north, because they share more genetic history and lifestyle with southeast Asian countries such as Thailand or Vietnam.
A lot of height as to do with nutrition and korea, japan and china are frankly wealthier countries whose people eat well and have basic medicine available to them

[LauraMarx]

Well, that kinda thing builds over time, it's not necessarily the food you've been eating for the past few centuries. There are probably some old evolutionary reasons, I don't know what they'd be though. But I think you'd need to look at like geography & ecosystem over the past few thousand years in that area if you wanna find out why really!

[Eternallylucky]

Fresh food diet that contains human growth hormones.

[Krushhbrownies]

Meat isn't the only source of protein. The most likely factor is diet and lifestyle, compare the height of South Korean and North Korean. Big difference. I have read countless articles about height in South Korea. S Korean parents really want their children to grow tall because apparently looks are important there as suggested by the frequency of plastic surgery (dubbed Cosmetic surgery capital of the world) .

[Anonymous]

I think due to food and climate.
Many Americans are fat because their food is quite different than ours.
Many Indians are brown or black due to climate.

[Asker]

But right across the pond. .. Japanese people are healthy but really short

[evenlift]

Well, as you say, South Korea is a very homogenous country. And so it wouldn't be surprising if the people were genetically that different from the peoples of Japan and China, even though those three countries are neighbours.