Good call , have your up vote ~<| sep |> Maybe the new civic hatch ? <| sep |> Seems to be down . <| sep |> Romo you can go ahead and put your gear down , for a while . <| sep |> One thing to keep in mind when comparing past heights with current heights . Humans have grown across the board regardless of nationality . It ' s more important to compare relative heights compared to other countries . Then , the point still holds that koreans were tall in relations with other people , such as chinese and japanese . Even during the late Joseon periods , western visitors to korea are recorded to have remarked that korean men were very tall and handsome , unlike other asians they have seen . That Jeolla province was shorter than northerners is of little significance , because hot weather is known to cause people to be small , and cold weather large . Also , eating more doesn ' t mean being taller in the absolute sense . Eating enough is what matters . Plus , it ' s not surprising Jeolla province was short , because that ' s where most of the less affluent serfs and poor people lived . relatively speaking . The northern provinces were known for their academic rigor . The source about korean height during occupation may provide insight , but proves nothing . The adults of korea dont sudden shrink because of food scarcity . Its more visible the younger you are exposed Also , Japanese occupation didn ' t start becoming truly brutal until the second half it was bad at first , but the effects weren ' t that pronounced because Japanese didn ' t want to anger the koreans when their grip on the nation was weak , especially as Japan needed to squeeze every drop of sweat and blood from everyone during the war . If anything , your source very nice find by the way proves that Koreans were originally tall during Joseon era , and something happened between then and now that caused them to be short . Whether you attribute the occupation or the korean war , it ' s only a matter of degree . I still don ' t see what you are trying to get across here . I didn ' t say Korean height shrunk during the occupation , or even the war . But it did shrink afterwards , and this could be attributed to the stress they felt as a child ' 한국인 의 신장 변화 와 생활수준 의 변동 식민지 시기 키 자료 를 중심 으로 ' 라는 서울대 석사 논문 에 의하 면 1900 년 에 165 정도 이 던 평균 키는 1925 년 167 까지 증가 했 다가 이후 감소 추세 를 보여 1945 , 1950 년 에 는 166 정도 로 줄어든 것 으로 나타났 다 . According to a publication by Seoul National Univ . in 1900 , height was 165 cm avg , it increased to 167 cm until 1925 , then decreased , in 1945 1950 to 166 cm . It matches exactly what ive said originally .