Ruling Grand National Party Chairman Hong Joon-pyo appeared at a party meeting on Monday looking a little different. "I was so stressed out after becoming party chairman that my eyebrows began to fall out, so I took my wife's advice and had them tattooed on Saturday," he confessed. "My eyebrows look dark now because I had the treatment just a few days ago, but they will look natural in about a week."

He originally also planned to have parts of his scalp tattooed to cover up bald spots but decided against it.

Grand National Party Chairman Hong Joon-pyo before (left) and after his eyebrow tattoo.

With the election season approaching, beginning with the Seoul mayoral by-election on Oct. 26 followed by general and presidential elections next year, politicians are getting more and more concerned about their looks. Eyebrow tattoos have become commonplace among politicians. One GNP lawmaker said, "There are probably more than a dozen who've had their eyebrows tattooed."

Main opposition Democratic Party Chairman Park Joo-sun had a hair transplant at the same hospital where President Lee Myung-bak had the same treatment and took it easy for a week until the swelling eased on his scalp. An aide said Park plans more hair transplants in the future.

Late last year, some lawmakers are said to have had stem cell treatment for their skins using fat cells from their abdomen. The safety of the treatment remains unverified, so the lawmakers got a lot of attention for undergoing the treatment. One female opposition lawmaker, sometimes dubbed the "queen of botox," has particularly firm and supple skin.