Why South Korea's president wants to help fund hair loss treatment

Experts say Lee Jae Myung's bid to insure hair loss treatment is a "strategic gesture targeting young male voters".

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In his crosshairs: the national health insurance scheme, which he suggests should foot the bill for hair loss treatments.

President Lee Jae Myung made the suggestion to officials at a briefing on this week, arguing that medical treatments for hair loss used to be seen as "cosmetic", but now they are viewed as "a matter of survival".

South Korea's national health insurance currently covers treatments for hair loss caused by medical conditions. But it excludes people with hereditary hair loss because that does not threaten someone's life, health minister Jeong Eun-kyeong explained at the meeting on Tuesday.

"Is it just a matter of whether to define hereditary disease as a disease?" Lee asked in response.