The Dark Side of South Korea's Incredible Economic Success
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 31 май 2022
- Just a couple of decades ago, South Korea was a hugely underdeveloped country with a mostly uneducated population and an economy that was performing worse than the North Korean one. Today, South Korea is one of the most developed countries in the world - and its transformation has been nicknamed the "Korean Miracle". But this miracle came with a price...
I'm just in the process of picking a topic for my next video. Got a suggestion for what "Dark side of..." you would like to see? Let me know!
Dark side of India
Middle Eastern Boom?
Dark side of Israel,if you dare
darkside of youself, what a useless video, very negative and non informative, do something entertaining
The dark side of the United States
So ironically South Korea isn’t as efficient as they want to be because they value the aesthetics of hard work(long impractical hours), rather than modernizing their concept of efficiency.
Honestly I am not at all surprised when the older generations are pretty much this if not intentionally making it harder for the younger generations resulting in degraded and broken systems for which gate keep people out of meaningful employment while delaying career advancement for others. Without efficiency these systems are all the worse and I say this from experience having worked more than my fair share of blue collar jobs especially with older businesses that refuse to update their processes and equipment resulting in productivity losses as well safety issues.
This is result of capitalism now being felt in Korea. It promotes workaholics and success. Less and less jobs for more people. Stakes are twisted to suit companies at the expense of people.
they dont wanna be work holic…
Maybe more of them should work from home.
More than a century and a half ago a Jewish philosopher and economist predicted these recurring, almost insoluble problems of capitalism - increasing concentration of income and markets in the hands of a few companies and unemployment due to this concentration and the advance of technology taking the place of labor. That economist was called Marx.
I am a Korean girl born in the early 80's in South Korea. My grandparents lived under Japanese occupation, and they went through the Korean War with their children. And when their children grew up, they made the Miracle on the Han River (Korean Miracle in the video). They are my parents, and when I was born, South Korea had grown economically enough to host the Seoul Olympics in 1988. My parents did their best to educate me, and I studied hard like any other Korean child. I believed it would bring me a bright future, and that's how I learned it. I even had a master's degree, but I have been struggle with getting a job for over a year. In the end I got one at a small company. I had to work all night and have dinner while drinking unwanted alcohol (Hoesik). I was not happy and eventually I quit my job. However, the reaction around me was not warm. I was told that I am too spoiled and fragile to deal with stress because i grew up with abundance. They said "Who doesn't get stressed?". Undoubtedly, It is grateful thing to have a place to work for the generation of my grandparents and parents who went through the Japanese colonization and the Korean War. Over the next few years, I repeatedly joined and left a couple of companies, and during that time my self-esteem and self-confidence went down. In the meantime I had to watch two of my close cousins commit suicide. Not necessarily, but honestly, I couldn't help but think that they might not have done if they hadn't lived in Korea.
Sorry! my comment becomes unintentionally long. But watching this video, I completely got the feeling that I was watching myself and my family and just wanted to let people know that it's pretty accurate from Korean's perspective as well. Thank you Dom for making a great video! 👍
______________________________________
Thank you so much for the comments and heartfelt messages on my story. To be honest, I didn't expect this much. It means a lot to me.
To tell you a little bit more of my story, I have been mentally and physically exhausted from cultural or social pressure since then. I decided to travel to other countries and stay in Australia for a year with the money I saved from the work. Koreans around me advised me that It was not the time to run away. I admit it. It was avoidance. But I think it was the right prescription for me rather than taking the medical pills. I had an opportunity to look into myself in Korean society more objectively through myself living in a different country of various cultures and races. It helped me think that I was not totally wrong. It slowly but gradually recovered my self-esteem and confidence. I found myself feeling at ease in a society where embraces and acknowledges the existence of diversity.
Currently, I have been studying Spanish and teaching Korean in Colombia for 5 years. Yes, I still feel uncertainty and anxiety when I think about the future. I still have doubts about myself.
Living in a foreign country as a foreigner is never easy. Living and travelling are two different things as many of you know. However, at least these are the choices I have made and I am willing to be responsible for it. Korean friends and family say that Korea is the best place to live for Koreans. Just for me, keeping a distance myself from the society has worked and given me an opportunity to find myself easier. Please do not generalize every Korean with my story. We are all different. I watched the video and relate to it, and based on my story, I simply wanted to let people know that this is really happening. Many of my students in Colombia have a dream about Korea in the Hallyu(Korean wave). As a Korean teacher who loves them, I have always been thinking how to show another side of South Korea, then I think I can fulfil the mission with this video so they can plan their dream more realistically and better than mine. Thanks again to all of you with warm words! 감사합니다! 🥰
Your feelings are completely valid, don’t let anybody convince you that you are spoiled. That kind of life is not sustainable.
You are a great individual everything you commented on came right from the heart . I live in the United States of America and for many many years I used to have 3 jobs at the same time sometimes 4 jobs at the same time. I would sleep 2 hours a day sometimes many times I would go for two three weeks without even sleeping 1 hour . A few of the jobs were manual labor also some were not so it was very tiring but I always like a challenge! I know a lot of people thought I was crazy and couldn't even believe I'm somehow still alive 😜 . After endless years of doing that routine I now work one job about 10 hours a day 6 days a week only 60 hours . Believe it or not when I'm off work I try to relax and I do but after I sit down for a little while I always got to get up and do something around the house . 🤣😂 I can't relax if I know there's something to do . As far as committing suicide never because you have to think of yourself as an extraordinary individual if you're able to do more hours or more hard tests than other people do . What does that kill you makes you stronger 💪 . Even though I know I've wasted a lot of my life working over working . It's great self-esteem to have as much motivation as possible . In my opinion life without an extreme challenge would be boring .
I say HR and managers are spoiled if they think they're entitled to have employees go to Hoesik. Are you still struggling with work?
@@motivationperseverance3077 Not everyone likes extreme challenges, different person has different mindsets and will power. It has worked out well for you. I am happy for you.
any culture that forces you to spend more than two times a week with your coworkers after your job is a bad situation. I have a feeling that maybe this was a way for the boss to get laid before - get the girls drunk. I have experience w korean bosses hiring my friends then trying to sleep with them as if its normal.
Thank you so much for pointing an important issue in Korea. I'm born and rasied in South Korea . As you mentioned, education fever is very severe in Korea and it drove me crazy. I always had to get high grade and teachers always like students who got HD. I was so exhausted with Korean Education and ends up escaping. I am studying abroad now but I'm still thinking like 'oh I have to get high mark', 'I am not enough' somthing like that. Unforgettable competitive mind is keep bothering me :((( Now I know the reason. This is the side-effect of rapid economy development! This is very well-made video. I hope all the students in Korea will watch this video..
Glad you chose something that works for you. you don't need to prove yourself. but getting a job is another story. Harvard degree won't land you a job over there.
yea
Woah I always wondered why in recent years South Korean have moved to the Philippines. Note I was born in the USA but my entire family was born in the Philippines but when I was told that the United States at one point had military bases in the Philippines. However when I went to my family's home province in the Philippines we noticed a dramatic change. My family's neighborhood that had Americans in that area became gentrified into a Korean district today. This video had pieced part of the gap why Koreans leave their country for investment reasons.
@@cabalenproductions6480 In the U.S., the Jews, Italians, Koreans, Vietnamese, Philippines, Hmong, Chinese, Indians, Pakistanis, Nepalese, Germans, Scandinavians, Polish, etc... they all end up making their own towns ("gentrified" towns). Economy isn't sustainable if it's gentrified. But it happens b/c the immigrant groups don't have other options/locations for settlement early on.
Username doesn't check out.
That's the same problem in India. Economy is growing but so is the lack of good job opportunities. We have very high number of unemployed college graduates. The growth in riches are just getting concentrated at the top with very little opportunities for general common people. There is so much anxiety and uncertainty about the future and financial security in a lot of people.
Are you an Indian ?
Git gud bruh
We have educated people with no to less skill thts required for real work.if we change education system thn things will change
Thats why a lot of young Korean loved indian movie ‘3 idiots’
Almost every students watched that movie include me
ruclips.net/video/ZqN5txluoBY/видео.html
This shows us that governments should not only prioritize economic situations, but also the human one (happiness, family, rest, recreation, etc.).
HAHA...good one!
agree
That could be very dangerous, thats giving to the government a superpower under the people, as the "fathers" of the society, if it happened under a government a little bit more authoritarian than the standard, imagine what could happen... censorship, repression, taxes "for the sake of the people"...
@@moyndebs6759 Its just you. Its either living ina Third world country or a Prosperous Dystopia.
But that means that they might lose money! You know the big corporations will never support such a move
Reminds me of my time working in Japan - everyone spent long hours in the office because face time was paramount. They weren't necessarily being productive but no one dared leave before the manager left. But then it was time to have dinner and drinks with your boss after work. Get home by midnight. Be back at the office at 7am and do it over again. It was insane.
sounds miserable
😪
But when you became a boss , you can change the habits , right?
On those companies a boss would be considered a general manager who will also have a boss. Then they also have a lot of stress to produce effective results. This types of jobs are toxic which you can also find in Mexico and other countries.
@@bmw335hdk2 But by then you would probably develop the same mindset as the previous Boss and the power might get to your head, it's a miserable continuous cycle.
This was a similar situation I witnessed in Singapore, the senior citizens stressed coz of high cost of living, the working professional always in a hurry, the students stressed about academic performance. For all the progress they have made, if your citizens are not happy with their lives, it's really not worth it 😢 Your basic needs should be affordable for all citizens, food, clothing, housing and medical care. People just need to share more to show they care🤗
ruclips.net/video/ZqN5txluoBY/видео.html
Singapore and South Korea are pretty similar if you consider the breakdown of the family structure, materialism, narcissism, and no moral compass. Along with similar trends in 3 of the lowest fertility rate in the world, highest suicide rate among males, highest elderly poverty rate, highest singlehood rate while being highly developed countries with mandatory conscription and no natural resources but their human capital.
@@Seowie Being lazy means death in S.Korea. The land has always been cursed.
I have a lot of South Korean friends. I also once worked for a South Korean boss. I have always wondered why so many South Koreans migrate to the USA, given South Korea's economic success. I did not know about the economic crisis it was facing. Thank you, Dom. I prey that one day, South Korea gets back on its feet.
where you get the fake news? it is funny , poor people migrate to the USA these days.
Same in Canada. Koreans are probably the only significant immigrant group coming now from a first world country.
Economic success is fleeting. It's like a hamster wheel which you have to keep running faster and faster. As soon as you stop running, food and all other critical necessities stop flowing in. That's the trap Korea is in.
@@coldspring22that’s why any country should be in the flow to nearly fully developed not completely developed. That way is more balanced.
Most Koreans went to Us during or after the Korean War. What people forget is the help from US for South Korea for rapid growth. Compulsory military training also helps.
Almost every “economic miracle” loses its luster if you look closely. Media used to focus on the commanding heights, declaring a country prosperous and booming based on a few statistics. Despite the internet’s bad aspects, videos such as this one let us learn about a place in a much deeper and more complete way. Thanks for an enlightening look!
Well media is... journalists who usually are not specialists. If you want to learn more about economic history, I suggest visiting a good library and lookin for some books written by experts. Although the buld is probably dry academic literature, there should be introductory works and the like that present much better facts than 99% of these RUclips videos. ^^"
@@Takeruooji to start with how inaccurate was this video. Secondly 99% is a bit extra or blown out of proportion. Your can get economist history on RUclips by professors of major universities.
@@Takeruooji Would you believe, I'm in a library right now. Surrounded by books written by experts. And I agree with you. I practically grew up in libraries, doing just what you advised.
This is true, I still remember how the medias proudly report that our GDP is growing and our economy is getting better and better during Pnoy's administration but the people never felt it, it was just a scam.
What miracle? The US backed it up. A giant held up on his hand.
We can all agree that the obsession over competition is very common in Asian Countries. The overly competitive process of acquiring a "seat" in a particular college or university is something even Indians have to go through. I can say with no doubt that if a reform has to happen in South Korean governmental policies, their skilled labour can also be put to good use. Which is what is happening in India, albeit slowly and gradually.
it will be interesting to see IITians unemployed and Polytechnic guys getting better jobs than them.
@@asutoshghanto3419 iitians largely go abroad. So it wont happen...
@@wecare838 IITians start startups and make them unicorns
@@riderchallenge4250 thats in a insignificant percentage....
Whats occuring in India and SEA is a slow and gradual process in which is better than east asian that occur overnight. Slow and gradual development overall have less stress to the population, have better equilibrium between bussineses and the government and overall the people have more purpose in life rather than just work and money. Thats why our population is pretty much stable and if we can continue like this, we might not be as rich as korea in the next few decades but we can build a more sustainable propherous society.
Im a typical Korean man. What I learned from childhood till today is 'Do everything to death', 'Laziness is crime '. It has been so stressful and pressing. But I didn't realize it because everyone around me was doing something. When I was in US, I finally realized how much stress and pressure I have got for my whole life. I don't think most Koreans are happy in the overly competitive society. However, I understand Koreans, because there is literally no natural resources in korea and being lazy means death. I just hope we Koreans could enjoy our lives more peacefully. Development without happiness has no meaning, I think.
Please come to Malaysia. In Malaysia you can live your life.
@@mohdyaseenshaikdawood3801 that sounds soo attractive to me as a korean..
@@mohdyaseenshaikdawood3801 기회가
된다면 쿠알라룸푸르 말고 제2의 도시 이름은
기억안나지만 거기서 살고싶다
@@RMadrid36 Penang or Johor. This 2 are major cities in Malaysia
@@mohdyaseenshaikdawood3801
코타키나발루 thank you 😊
I tried my best to escape my home country, Korea, after my college education and finally established in US. Currently, I make my living as a scientist with (english) disability but I am satisfied with my decision. Current situation in Korea seems to be worse than I was young. I’m still thinking if anyone sees no hope in Korea, escape the country and find a new opportunity. Koreans can do what ever they want outside home country because of their hard working culture. You don’t need to waste your life in despair.
절대다수는 못 도망간다.
Well done video.
I moved to Korea in 1988 to study at a Korean University (Yonsei) and see the Olympics. Korea was the happiest place on earth at this time. Koreans felt so proud to be able to host the Olympics & the world to come and see Korea.
Well, I ended up staying longer than I planned. I was in and out of Korea for 20 years. I lived the Han Miracle. Somehow I quickly picked up Korean and could hold a basic conversation after 6 months and after 3 years Koreans wouldn't know I was a foreigner if I spoke over the phone. So I was able to gain a very deep insight into Korean culture and what was happening in Korea and the rapid changes. At one point Koreans started coming to me for advice - on things Korean. Many of my friends considered me Korean.
And I had a wide variety of friends from Chaebol billionaire to high school drop out. I ended up moving quickly up the corporate ladder and was making a lot of money. The tax office said I was in the top 5% of income earners. But I didn't feel rich. Why?
Housing. In Korea, it is hard to get married if you do not have an apartment. And they are expensive. I lived in Seoul and in the mid 2000s a proper apartment would be USD 3 million +. AND you had to have 50% down to get a mortgage. So I was in the top 5% and I saved more than 1/2 my salary and there was no way for me to buy an apartment. The prices were going up faster than the 1/2 of salary I saved - so no way to catch up. And this is one of the biggest issues in Korea. And this has caused the marriage rate to fall dramatically as well as the birth rate. Koreans save too much and that money has to go somewhere - so real estate in unattainable unless your parents buy an apartment for you. You can be the best student in your high school, get into the best university, graduate top of your class and get a job at the best company - and no way in hell you are going to buy a proper apartment without money from your parents. Which leads to the real reason Korea is struggling...
Demographics. Korea is one of the fasted aging societies on earth. That leads to a feeling of being richer as few kids are born and few resources going to making kids. So more for everyone else. But that also leads to a booming economy yet mass unemployment - and soon no workers and higher taxes.
I watched Korea go from a traditional society where people had 4 to 8 children where many people were in rural areas to mass migration to the cities and family sizes started to go to 3 or 4 and then 1 or 2 kids per family.
The other observation was that society changed too fast. The city migration happened in less than one generation. And income rose rapidly in just 30 years. Korean customs could not adapt fast enough. Some of my older friends were married by 중매결혼 (Chungmei Marriage) where your parents met with your future spouses parents and they decided you would marry their child. You didn't meet your future spouse UNTIL the wedding day. And friends my age were always getting "set up" with prospective spouses (소개팅) - and were not allowed to marry someone their parents did not approve of. The prospect had to have the right background, education (and sometimes religion), financial status, etc. This custom had been in place for survival of the family when Korea was poor - but was not needed in modern society with high incomes. But Korean society would not let go of the custom. I had one friend whose parents did not want him to marry his girlfriend she was Christian and they were Buddhist. They both had great careers and money wasn't an issue. So they finally eloped (as adults) abroad and got married.
When I got married I realized I couldn't stay in Korea. It was just too hard. I owned an apartment in the heart of Seoul but it wasn't big enough for a family. And Korean society was just too hard. And I worked way too many hours. And the drinking culture was taking its toll.
So within a year of getting married, we left Korea and had the first child a year after that.
I learned a lot from Korea. The elders taught me to "be small." I became very competitive. I learned to have no fear and try to do things that seemed impossible. I also learned that many other Koreans learned - leaving Korea is better.
I still have a place in Korea and I visit Korea every 3 or 4 years (my stuff has been stuck in a time warp for 16 years). I still do projects for some Korean companies on occasion but do not enjoy it as much as I used to. And I am confident I made the right decision to leave my life in Korea. My colleagues were stunned when I said I was leaving because I was the one who had "made it." I was on first name basis with several Chaebol CEOs, was on TV, etc. But to me, I was just another guy struggling like hell everyday.
Thanks for sharing.
Damn bro.
In what field were you working ? Which country did you leave Korea for ?
Man, i love to hang out with people like u. Heard your story & wisdom really inspiring for a young adult like me. Hope we can meet one day.
This is the one difference between Korea and Japan, where I lived for almost 30 years and I am a Korean-American. Many Koreans have the courage and contacts to leave the country. That isn't the case for Japanese.
My South Korean born and raised parents moved to the USA in the 1980s, where my siblings and I were born & raised, and now subsequently all have full time jobs that allow us to be financially independent. My mother’s family, who was very wealthy, didn’t understand why she would leave her comfortable situation to begin all over in a foreign country. Watching this video makes me very thankful for her sacrifices and it’s very sobering to imagine what life would be like if I was born and raised in South Korea. My cousin’s family just paid a company thousands of dollars for him to find an internship in the USA, and he doesn’t want to return.
THE USA is in the same boat; because this is ITS EUROPEAN culture superimpose over the korean one.
- pecking order
-looting / quick gang $gains
-slavery
ALL THE SAME ELEMENTS ARE IN THE 1st world country. And technically S. Korea is a 3rd world country. It was not part of the cold war. Economic success does not change your political status 1st, 2nd and 3rd world countries: are still as is.
In the USA: you are shielding more due to its size. 🌊 water will sink the canoe faster than a Mega Cruiseliner: but both boats are sinking.
the USA is just bigger, it has more immigrant labor; and $USD is trading currency of the world. 8 to 10 families own most of the USA. College educated are in all types of jobs in the USA. Drug, suici]e rate, violence is also high. = because again the BLUE PRINT was set up in South Korea.
SOUTH KOREA adopted a FAILED CULTURE and now it too is heading for extinction . You dissed your ancestors.
how many S.Koreans under 30 can read this comment. and they are not Englishmen.
POINT #! 2 : 😓 this guy is praising capitalism and dark side of it he blames it on Korea.
That devil lied to you. Korea did not have success. Success is renewal, success is sustainability and rebirth.
S. Korea is old, still and infertile.
by 2050 it will hit extinction level = WIN WHERE?
South Korea and us is a lot similar my friend both America and south Korea is controlled by few top companies who Monopolies the key industries and kill small bussines .us is rosy for you Maybe bcz the type of lifestyle Koreans have is much more strict and ig your family member who took a internship is a stem or science or some new hot industry graduate i e why for your and him it seems us is better but for the people living their it's no different
@@bloodwargaming3662 America has fewer working hours than South korea. American students also study fewer hours than Asia.
Asian countries turn you into robots. If you want to enjoy life, you move to the west
@@millevenon5853 i.e a myth in America yes a lot of the schooling and college life is much better but work life I'd disagree, America doesn't have any types of holiday guarantees , very low minimum wage if compared all round the developed world , bad worker rights huge inequalities etc etc . Even healthcare is damm expensive
@@bloodwargaming3662 I pay 700 bucks a month fot insurance it's insane
This is hell.
Working smartly is more important than working hard
The concept of efficiency in S.Korea is work without disobey for long hour.
Hello! Thanks for your videos, great choice of subject, great way to expose them ;)
Maybe just the ending can be improved by just adding a little more time, with music getting lower and lower for example..
So the end is clean and makes you feel like you have followed a "story" kind of!
As a Korean national, I cannot help but agree to 100%. People are trying to change things, but so far without any success. I'm proud of what my country has so far achieved, but i'm worried about what is to become of it.
dont give up you guys have the numbers they need employees! I cant wait to see a strike out of SK, without you they collapse!
Looks like the modernization came at a price. Good thought provoking video. I didn't know this about Korea. I thought it was all good, K-Pop, Squid Game, and girls wearing alot of makeup
Well at least your government wants this to change. In my country (Mexico) it's worse, because not only the people are stupid, downright monkeys (and that's an insult to monkeys) who defend employee exploitation, but the government also doesn't care at all about it
Squid game은 이 영상과 같은 주제의 현실을 게임으로 표현했습니다
1등만이 전부인 한국 사회
비슷한 빈부격차를 주제로 한 parasite 라는 영화도 추천합니다
@@mcentepedeYou watched Squid Game and thought everything is good in South Korea? You really ignored the message the show tried to deliver about the very real problems people have to deal with?
Also the Kpop industry also has a lot of issues that are widely known. I recommend looking up more info about it. It's interesting, even though really sad.
And I don't even want to get started with talking about the beauty industry and the pressure it puts on people to fit in (by getting plastic surgery etc.)
There's some things that are good about South Korea but the issues it has shouldn't be ignored.
Korea is a very competitive society ; they are under pressure , not having any space for happiness.
No wonder they’re such soyboys
As a citizen somewhere here In South East Asia ( I would not mention my country to avoid criticism for my opinion) I would rather be a South Korean who is smart and can be very attractive with surgery or something else, that’s happiness for me rather than poor and not really so smart. As a work hard type of student I can really say that East Asians especially Japanese, Koreans and Chinese are very gifted to be brilliant, believe me we have some mix Japanese and Chinese students here In my school and they do not need to study hard like most of East Asians but just by listening they can get a high mark, they are just very gifted and I would rather to be like them. Looks, Money and Intelligence are true happiness and contentment for me, how can most of us here be happy if there’s no intelligence, money and looks. Call me materialistic but poverty can’t really buy anything. If you’re only hard working but really born to be a slow learner then goodluck as this won’t give any happiness also but only illness. I regret to be born with this kind of race, I wanted a race that’s not only hard working but also gifted in intelligence and looks that is like Koreans, Chinese and Japanese.
@@diamondluck3851 in America you don’t need looks, intelligence, or money to succeed. I would hate to live in SK or Japan, and especially China. Those countries suck and their people are miserable
@@diamondluck3851 it's about happy society and community.. no matter the intelligence level, if people have just enough income to run their livelihood and a good socio-cultural surroundings along with access to Internet, the community will be living happily in today's world... Huge drastic advances leading to quick change in society and culture is very harmful... I'm from a town in the Himalayas and the people here have no issues except some complain about lack of proper modern infrastructures which are being developed at a slow and steady pace so that our historical, cultural values and heritages are not destroyed in the process of rapid development
@@diamondluck3851
Interesting.
This is such nice output!!!! Thank you so much.
A message to all the South Koreans, purely from a business point of view: I believe Koreans are very well placed internationally & wields an immense soft power. So Koreans, right now, should focus on small businesses to sell products and services. People will spend money on Korean products, not necessarily from giant brands...but on homegrown brands with a nice story. So when the Korean government sees that these homegrown brands are succeeding and bringing in the forex currency, they will be supported. It's a great way to boom further.
YES! As a non korean who had never ever “consumed” korean culture until 2 years ago I have to say, korean culture is at an all time high all around the world, from cuisine to cinema to music etc. That’s a lot of soft power that can be explored
What products or services. Chaebols produce everything
I work in a company in Sweden with a lot of colleagues from all over the world.
But one of the biggest minorities is the Korean.
Almost every single one of my Korean colleagues when asked why they came to work in Sweden, replied that they did it for their kids.
Because "... I don't want my children to not have a childhood."
Great video, and God bless the Koreans. Truly a great people, kind and smart.
Man hearing this makes me want to cry.
Oh please.. don’t act like sweden is all perfect. South korea ranks better than sweden for childcare, healthcare and educational facilities.
@@sangwoo9686 I didn't. I mentioned one thing. Even with all things that are far superior with Korea, giving up your childhood and mental health, is - according to my Korean colleagues - simply not worth it. That was all.
@@Syeal7 Thats your colleagues opinion. Not every family in korea is like that. And Sweden is basically equivalent to just one province in south korea.
Nominal GDP $US -
South korea: 1.9 trillion
Sweden: 0.6 trillion
PPP GDP $US -
South korea: 2.7 trillion
Sweden: 0.7 trillion
Source: IMF 2022
@@sangwoo9686 not true. Sweden is about half the size of Korea and has 1/5th of the population. You know what Sweden doesn't have? A high population density.
This is really unacceptable that The chaebol companies are make up almost 85℅ of countries gdp but only contribute about 10% of jobs ... This is ridiculous ..
Just like in Hit...Germany. It worked, too. It is called fascism.
Its the pareto principle at play again.
That's why called "dark side"
It's same in our country 60-80% jobs are created in agricultural sector but they make only about 20% or something of total GDP. 😔
@@mr_ak123 49-51% in India are into agriculture but they contribute nearly 20% in gdp, rest is due to service sector and slowly manufacturing is contributing but it will take a decade till it take service sector's place.
This is excellent stuff, you get straight to the point without too much unnecessary blabla. I learnt a lot from your video. Well done.
Loving this one thanks for sharing very information blessed love to all knowledge is power hopefully everyone pays attention keep up the good work 🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲
I wonder if the chaebols of South Korea were inspired at all by the zaibatsu of Imperial Japan?
Especially given that Korea had been occupied by Japan for 35 years (and a lot of the early South Korean leadership had collaborated with this occupation)...
It's funny you should mention that, the majority of "Chaebol Families" are of Japanese heritage (they just changed stamps)
@@elguapodelmonte215 What do you mean by Japanese heritage? Except for the Chairman of Lotte whose mother is Japanese, there is no Chaebol family of Japanese descent.
@@elguapodelmonte215 YOU ARE SOOOO WRONG!!!!
Chaebol and Zaibatsu means the same in their respective language. Both refer to family or group of people owning wealthy, influene rich mega corporations.
Itis written as 财阀or財閥 using Chinese character.
It is not a 'wonder' , it 's s fact. They have a lot similarities. A very big difference is that Korea and Chaebols function very much via family (clan) bloodlines. Control and ownership are very much concentrated in the original families. In Japan , the traditional village/working relations have a lot of importance in society , more so than maybe bloodlines. in the past members of a village worked together in working the land harvesting rice etc .This is ab important structure of Japanese society. That is why it is importantto work longtime 'within' a company to move up ranks and why life long employeeship is common there. It is also not uncommon for a business owner to adopt a high potential employee as 'his son' , to succeed him , rather than one of his family members. Zaibetsu have more decentralization of control and ownership ( via groups of managers ) than the chaebols .
This isn’t just Korea. Most Asian countries value work over happiness. Which is the least productive thing to do. I’m French and even tho we’re sometimes referred as lazy people, the reality is that France is the sixth most productive country at work in 2022. To me there’s no secret behind that, we’ve tons of paid vacations and national holidays. Workers have lots of rights and we work only 35 hours a week. So when we come back to work on Monday after a relaxed weekend with our friends and family we’re fresh and ready to be efficient at work. I think our Latin neighbours have kind of the same systems
Romanians top the list with highest bang per buck. One can't be another way since we're paid like 400 euros a month :) That's why we've flooded Europe,we're like 8 million people outside Romania right now.
I'm in Asia and I can hear viens pop every time my colleagues have to deal with their French counterparts. Same thing with Scandinavia but not as bad.
@@samueladams2340 @Samuel Adams They are spoiled and their welfare system is not sustainable. Once the demographics change to something like Japan their generous s0cialist system will collapse because there will be a shortage of young workers.
I feel like the French might have the best work-life balance of any developed nation 👍
I'm korean programmer.....
I'm going to immigrate to finland next year.....
I want better warefare and lonely life compared to korea.......
Thank you it's a great vid!😮
you have to take into account the fact that korea has changed a lot in such a short space of time...almost in an unnatural way...of course there's bound to be problems and issues..but i think covid has brought a turning point for korea as well...times are changing and young people are expressing their views, and although it will always take some time, if you ask any koreans 'would you go back to 80s or 90s' most of them will say no...long working hours, stress, and other stuff has always been there unfortunately...the young people of korea will hopefully bring another hopeful future...
75% of younger S. Koreans aged 19 to 34 feel more anxious about life and want to leave country. The level of anxiety is higher among women; 79% of women want to leave Korea. According to the presentation at the Korea Women’s Development Institute’s 119th Gender Equality Policy Forum, 8 out of 10 South Koreans aged 19 to 34 viewed South Korea as “a hell,” while 7.5 out of 10 said they hoped to leave. A particularly large disparity between females and males was observed for fear of being victimized by crime: young women had a crime anxiety index rating of 2.66 out of four points. Young females were also the angriest with their average rating of 2.79.
I would l like to think that the pandemic provided a turning point but at the same time things have gotten worse as well. I live here now and as opposed to pre-pandemic, Koreans have lower opinions of foreigners, and social acceptance of other foreign "values" have decreased as well (such as acceptance for LGBT+). I think it will take many years to return to the globalized society as it was pre-pandemic and many more years for other societal change.
@@andrewhampton2644 FYI, the young adult who wanted to leave country, the rate was higher pre-pandemic... Something like 88%. You can check on YT
@@forzon4055 That makes sense, studies have shown that nationalism has increased in South Korea during the pandemic. So therefore it’s understandable people who are more proud of their country are less likely to want to leave.
I was just commenting on different factors that have changed during Covid-19
@@andrewhampton2644 We will never return to globalism. It opened the door to this pandemic as well as rendered our nations as dominoes where if one key nation couldn't ship out, everyone suffered and it gave undue power to nations like china that our leaders allowed to have this much leverage.
This isn't isolated to Korea, Japan has been in this trap forever. And now China is also stepping in albeit a totally different ideology and political-economical system. Part of that is due the pathway they had gone thru to either break away from extreme poverty, or in Japan's situation, a literal fallout after the war: they all centered "hard work" to the point it gets extremely toxic, the culture is heavy on peer pressure and looking down blue collar jobs, combining with gender disparities. Too add salt to the wound, capitals managed to find their ways infiltrate/brainwash people to turn them essentially into hardworking machines. Thru the decades, a very complex but distorted system of social classes were formed and is very hard to trickle down, very few people find happiness in it yet couldn't get out.
Wrong, China doesn’t have near the same issues and Japan has done an almost herculean effort to curb down suicides, the latest OECD report has the USA with a higher per capita suicide rate than Japan. But go off.
It’s most likely because all East Asian culture are heavily influenced by Confucianism that believe in working hard to get a better life. Your social class is not dependent on your family but how hard you have worked. That’s why people are motivated in east asia to study and work so hard.
And for gender equality, I honestly feel that gender equality in Europe is all about talking, while Asia (maybe with the exception of Japan) is where you actually see more equality at work place. My company has far more females in managerial positions in Asian then in Europe.
@@class6aa
Leaders will always convince their population to work hard etc etc to maintain pyramidal structure and growth of human knowledge but in reality, world doesn't need too many people.
More people, less jobs, more competition, more toxicity, more conflict and show will go on.
@@class6aa you are spot on that. Women equality is more prevalent in east asia.
actually it's all capitalism. no ends to exploitation without expropriation
Man, the quality of your videos and the amount of subcribers you have do not match. This is worth like x20 the amount of subcribers you have rn! Keep making awesome and interesting vids!
Really enjoyed this thanks! Very interesting! Enjoyed looking at you too! ;)
Did you like the video? Make sure to subscribe, cause I got a lot more videos explaining different super interesting issues around the world coming up!
Dude, English is not my first language but u said couple of decades ago.
It's mean 20 years ago, 20 years ago Korea already developed, atleast already "Newly industrial country" like today's China.
As a Korean this is Very well-explained. Impressive. Did u live in Korea for long time?
But there's one thing wrong. Samsung doesn't account for 20% GDP of SK. GDP and annual sales is a different term. Overall very impressive. Well spoken. 👍
Thank you so much, I really appreciate that! Actually no, I've only been here for a few weeks, but I've spent a lot of time talking to Koreans and long-term expats about this topic and then researching it quite extensively.
I can't say "Fighting " to Koreans anymore .. Just relax and enjoy every small things in your lives .. no work and nothing is big or small .
The easiest jobs in South Korea are civil servants and teachers, but it's a pity that the fierce competition is unimaginable.Many Koreans have settled in China's Liaoning, Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong and other developed provinces because of lower competitive pressure and mild climate ~
maybe he took into account the Samsung facilities outside of South Korea
@@user-jj6mx3tc1g Yup we got places with high work pressure and ones with low work pressure too. 😁
Great explanation - thanks.
I think this sort of phenomenon is not just limited to South Korea. A lot of other countries are also having a hard time creating a healthy balance between the demand for jobs and the supply of the labour force. Needless to mention, the demand for manual labour has been decreasing quite significantly over the years with the massive improvements in technological innovations; however, the global population is on the rise and the number of educated people have skyrocketed. It was inevitable, and it's such a bummer especially for the youngsters.
It definitely is tough for us
youngsters
Everything is just moving so fast and changing to quickly its difficult to actually make wise informed decisions about the future
Holy shit man, koreans and all are learning till 10 pm and I just read the book of the subject an hour before the test.
They got such motivation and determination.
I wouldn't say motivation and determination. More like pressure and no choice.
I think the average Korean spends more time studying in a year than I did in my whole academic life. I was quite shocked when I was there. Yet they on average have very little to show for the amount of time they put in. I was taught to work smart not hard in life and as a result I have been very successful, even went to a top English university. Also glad to say I had a lot for fun along the way and compared to the average Korean I had and have a lot of free time. I also come from a poor family so no easy start in life. My Korean girlfriend once asked me what I like most about being in Korea. I said the best thing was not being Korean their lives are just to hard. She agreed that was the thing she liked the most about me. Because there are no crazy expectations when she is with me. Life is actually fun and easy :)
@@jw841 Where are you from? I like your thinking.
Well if you still get good marks you're definately far above average intelligence.
@@LifetimeTravelmates And the schools and universities value students who took the pressure to another level and changed it into obsession. I got some friends who are re-taking the entrance exam for universities, and frankly, the amount of work they put into just freaks me out. I'd rather call that obsession and addiction rather than dedication. Still, I think that no matter the pressure and the choices they were given, that kind of hard work needs a reward. But I don't think our society can provide them with one, since we're heavily running out of rewards to provide in the first place. I just hope my friends would acknowledge this.
True. I was a student in Korea till 2019. When I was in elementary school, a grade 6 kid killed himself due to stress. Never wanna study there again.
You are so right about the situation in Korea. Well explained!
This video is great and really speaks to me on how much Korea is changing, hopefully for the better. I immigrated from America to Korea 8.5 years ago and even in this short time have seen the country change much faster than I could have ever expected. When COVID happened it pushed things even further especially in relation to work. Many of our friends and family now don't have to worry about after work meetings. If they do happen it is only a few times a year now instead of monthly or biweekly. My husbands company went from once a month to now once every 3 months and it is no longer mandatory for those with families. I have even gone with him a few times as well as our toddler. There is also a push for more online or at least partial online jobs, something that I myself do as a part time job. Another thing that you hit great on is the education and a college degree becoming not so important anymore. My husband never had the chance of going to college while I finished a 6 year Bachelors degree. In the end we both have mostly the same opportunities and even some companies now have "blind" interviews that don't show the educational level of the interviewee. Especially in men their skills, work experiences, and certifications (like EXCEL and such) is starting to matter more than a degree. I do wonder if this will continue as Korea is shifting to more of an AI integrated country. I have also seen that parents are starting to offer to pay less for private tutoring as some have told me, when concerning learning English, that online resources are just as good these days and for cheaper. Some even argue that due to AI studying languages is no longer needed... I strongly disagree but that's just my opinion.
All in all, as a country that develops and changes at a remarkable pace, I'm curious to see where it will go and how even now will compare to just 10 and 20 years in the future. A huge encouragement is the focus that the government is starting to take on families by reducing work hours and trying to solve the housing cost as well as aid for families with children. I hope that this is all a step in the right direction. As a family we are considered low income and that is by choice because we choose to work only 6-8 hours a day, no weekends, so that we still have time with our toddler. We stand together that family time is precious and money can come later. I believe despite what society might say, that we are making the right decision.
Living in SEA, a country without miracle. Dark Side of Korea seem too bright for my eye😓
Then you are in trap.
Then you should come to my country
And feel what is hell
@@alexhermends2482 A few day ago in my village, A mother kill by her own son by a belt smashed at her face. He smashed several time until she die. He is drug addicted, no job, no future. He argued with neighbor and his mother tell him to go apologize to them. He angered. Later, He kill by police after flee. YOUR COUNTRY is HELL you underestimate WHAT CALL HELL!!!!
Super interesting video! I have been living in Seoul for almost 3 years, and I agree with everything here. I currently teach 5 year-olds who can all read and write English. They are already feeling pressure from parents to get into the "good schools." If they don't, it's seen as shameful to their wealthy families. Also, we get to leave at 4 30 PM but Korean staff MUST stay until 6 PM. It's a crazy competitive society with a lot of great things, but also a dark side.
I want to see a soul-less ginger playing soul music in Seoul solely for the lulz. Yes, it's dated. Get over it.
summarised modern and contemporary korean culture in just 10 minutes, awesome video well researched
Well done! Very interesting and well explained ( as I got from the comments).
Where are you from
I am from Thailand & want to say S. Korea has done fantastic in area of Creative Cultural Exports such as movies, tv series, & music … BTS & Blackpink … drawing world attention to S. Korea. Yes they have a tough disciplined system, but produces world-class results 🇹🇭🤝🇰🇷
Working hard but not working smart is the main problem.
Sorrow from Bangladesh 😕
Thanks!
Fantastic vidos, Dom!
going to meet a Korean student of mine today. I have taught her when she was 8-10 years old, but we kept in contact over the years. She is now going to America to study at an Ive League school. I will for sure be talking about this with her.
Congrat. It just incredible.
The constant quest for perfection can make one's life utterly meaningless. People living in Confucian economic heavens like China, Japan, Singapore and this one must learn this the hard way. Here in the Philippines we might be dirt poor but at least we are not breathless, are more freer than the others, and one of the most happiest folk in the world. Most of us content on the simplicity of lifestyle in contrast to the constant quest for affluence and wealth which, for others, could not be brought with once death comes. Material wealth does not always buy happiness, at times they even bring sorrow and mischief.
A very Buddhist take, but a welcome one for sure. Your life should come before your job, especially when you have an SO and kids...
@@hickknight true, after all what is the meaning of life if one is not able to live it to the fullest and just reduce the self into a mindless robot pleasing the collective and serving the state, enriching and beautifying the nation yet could not make the self happy and fulfilled and living a depressed life?
Such an accurate analysis!
After high school I went to Korean to learn Korean and eventually get a degree at a Korean University. However the longer I stayed the more I realised the really intense work ethic that's present everywhere. I decided against getting my degree in Korea and went back home after finishing the language course. That being said I think Korea has a really rich culture and I enjoyed learning about it and experiencing it a lot!
Were you interested to become a K pop star ?
@@tbraghavendran 😂
ruclips.net/video/ZqN5txluoBY/видео.html
Read the book, “South Korea: The Price of Efficiency and Success”. Basically, the book shares the similar view and analyses.
Hi, as a Korean I want to point out that some of the video footage you used for the video shows southeast Asians and Chinese.
Also, we have many new billionaires who made their own success without the chaebol family connections now.
The reason that Samsung was able to succeed more than other Korean corporations was because the founder Lee Byung-chul invested in the semiconductor business in the 70s despite the government pressuring Samsung not to gamble with the nation's money.
Many chaebol families failed in their business in the 90s during the economic crisis. The few chaebol families that still perform well today should be considered as their own fortune.
Claps
Look at the percentage of your plutocracy in the economy, what a nonsense, dog-like nation. Plutocrats play with your actresses and manipulate your politics, stop covering up. The most pathetic thing is that the real owner of your plutocracy is Wall Street. A garbage country that grew up on the Vietnam War.
It's not whether they are legitimate to their fortune.
It is how these mega corporations get away with crime because of their influence in politics.
Plastic
he wasn’t talking about some billionaire. He was talking about average billionaire and government’s trick to make a developed country. Also, what’s wrong with showing southeast asia or china’s old time footage. He most likely hadn’t the korean footage. So, he used it for example.
I did a report on this in Uni, before moving to SK the first time. 🙃. Loved the video
Thats why its so important to be mindful of history (our own and others around us) and on what foundations we continue to build on or grow through.
Even if we remember our roots and what we’re grounded in it doesn’t help enough unless the whole bigger picture is always in sight or being considered
Wait,720 subs?!!!!This is an amazing piece of content and I pray that you’ll find success ✊
O just came across this video this is amazing
Looks lime you Struck Gold with this video. Looming forward to more.
This was a great video!
Just find this channel recently and watched this video after "The Dark Side of Japan". Frankly I found this to be like travelling back in time where South Korea went through quite similar situation as Japan during / slightly after their economic boom. For South Koreans, the dark side of Japan video can be perceived as a warning about where the country could end up if it doesn't reform some of the fundamental aspects of working culture.
True. Every korean know japan is our future
I use to live in Korea (I'm American) and I've never seen a more unhappy group of people in my life. And I'm not exaggerating.
I'm a Korean American who emigrated in 1970, when SK was poorer than dirt, to find a better life in the US. We came with little more than the clothes on our backs. Nobody expected to see the SK economic miracle, and it has been quite impressive. Suffice it to say, today, living in America and in my early 50s, I work remotely in a semi-retired fashion, have multiple homes, earn a 1% income and I do not have a competitive bone in my body. I kind of half-assed it through college and my working life, yet, I am better off than the vast majority of Koreans (and Americans too, for that matter). My parents, both in their 80s, retired from their dry cleaning business 25 years ago and are also millionaires in their own right. They could easily go back to SK anytime and enjoy the riches of modern day Korea, and before the pandemic, they used to go back once per year. But they know intimately about the many disadvantages of living in South Korea today and choose to stay in America. Yes, America has its flaws too, but, in general, it's a beautiful, relatively stress-free life. I thank my lucky stars every day that I am here in the States and not over there.
It's sad that you are so Americanized. The entire theme of your paragraph is money money money. Yikes. No stress but did you have a life? I don't think so. The money is important but that's all you got.
@@SK-ql3yf Geez, you can't be very smart if you draw conclusions about peoples' entire lives based on a single comment. My life is great. And I'm not super rich, but I have everything I want and I didn't have to work very hard for it. That's the beauty of being American - the fact that you don't have to kill yourself trying to succeed; it doesn't take much to excel here. I'm average in every way and I suspect that I would have struggled if, for whatever reason, I had never emigrated to America. True, money isn't everything. But it sure is great when you don't have to worry about it. It has enabled me to travel extensively around the world, and those experiences and lessons have been priceless for me. And, oh, about being "Americanized," every time I travel to Asia and local people find out I am American, they express their love of America and their desire to move there. Being "Americanized" is not such a bad thing, I think.
@@hejiranyc first of all, welcome home although it’s a couple decades late. Second, you’ve mentioned that you didn’t have to work very hard for what you want. What would your opinion be on why American youth (mainly my generation millennials) think they have to kill themselves or like they’re hitting a dead end job for the American dream?
@@alexiakelley4245 Firstly, thank you. Secondly, I am just sharing an anecdote about my own personal situation, that someone as exquisitely lazy and unexceptional as myself can achieve a great standard of living in America. And, indeed, everybody's mileage will vary. Perhaps I am very lucky. I never set long-term career goals for myself and I never aggressively sought out opportunities. Being an immigrant, I did not have a pre-existing network of connections or extended family who could hook me up; I truly had to figure everything out on my own. I always went with my gut and whenever opportunities did avail themselves, I instinctively knew when to jump on them. And I stress the word "opportunities" because we in America are so blessed with opportunities that nobody else in the world could possibly imagine. Sure, everyone starts off doing dead end things or living paycheck-to-paycheck at some point. But that's only temporary. I do believe good things come eventually to everyone as long as you live your life with integrity and, most importantly, keep an open mind about everything.
@@hejiranyc Geez. Triggered? I thought you said you were in the 1% income bracket. It seems you are obsessed with money. Calling out what was obviously stated is not being smart? Lol. Who said being Americanized is bad? Do you internalize much? Go see a therapist.
another great video
6:57 It's quite common in Turkey too, though I don't know the magnitude of rates in South Korea, nobody in developed parts of Turkey will wholeheartedly say that there's no problem in job market for college grads. We grew up with knowing college won't be such a huge deal since it won't get you anything meaningful so you had to postgraduate degree if you wanted to be something in life. To be clear I'm not comparing who gets harder in life, I'm just saying that it's not that unheard of if you look closely. Thank you for the video and reading my comment.
I'm Korean and have lived in the US for 10 years. The most striking difference I felt was Korea's obsession with looks over substance.
That’s what happens to a culture that goes from poor to rich in a generation. They still hold looks of success as being successful.
I mean... US has neither, to be fair.
@@nikolarajkovic4595 the US can erase your country in a day , and still have money to keep feeding and entertaining everyone . i don't know what you are smoking , son...
@@Dan_Kanerva Bravo, Sherlock. What does that have to do with anything here tho?
@@nikolarajkovic4595 just vibechecking your arrogance... that's all Sherlock
Yeah this is some legit good content. I'll subscribe now because I know you'll boom in coming months!
Awesome stuff
Where did you source this information?
"The company comes first, before family, personal life, your free time or anything else"
And you wonder why it is one of the unhappiest nations on earth...
One of the best RUclips recommendation 👍
not only in Korea this is happening. I remember when I was a fresh grad how difficult it was to find a well-paying job. Even after graduating and passing the board exam, so I ended up taking a job, entirely not related to my degree because good jobs are really hard to come by.
Yes, it's all related to the financial class thugs in central banks printing currency at will and thus setting wrong goals of how society should function. Very few people understand this.
Is common in all developed countries. There is so much competition because every second person has a degree...
How do you measure competitiveness among countries ?
You can make such video on USA and it wouldn't look more rosy. South Korea at the same time has a very good standard of living. good salaries, a lot of opportunities, low crime rate, good healthcare, low drug use, they care about their citizens, good infrastructure, great food, not that expensive, fruits though are expensive. Also it has good relationships with many countries and it's passport is pretty powerful. The problem is not that there are no jobs, but that it's societal. People expect from you to get an office white collar job. Blue color job looks down upon. So if they could change that idea, and make that a blue collar job is a respectful job, people wouldn't feel that pressure and shame of working in a factory, in construction or on a farm.
They should educate kids that getting any job is great. If you make good money to support yourself then its awesome, you are doing great.
There was a show called Dirty Jobs. I listened to a podcast with the host of this show, he wanted to show to the people that you can have a very dirty job and make tons of money, and sometimes it's not about money. So we should, I guess, stop prioritizing jobs requiring high education since it's hurting young people.
As a South Korean, i really appreciate your advice.
The "Dirty Jobs" show was somewhat untrustworthy; as a lot of the jobs it featured were low-paying in the real world, and still are. Valorizing hard, dirty jobs (I have one) is a trick capitalism uses to lower the overall wages in those sectors before either "de-skilling" them and shipping them offshore or automating them out of existence.
This is true. I know a ton of non college grads making more than people like me who went to medical school. Also they have much better lifestyle and have no debt. Education is overrated. Even in the US there are a ton of people I know with PhD not making six figures
It would have been nice to explain the government roadblocks for small businesses, which must exist. In the US, large companies also become super efficient instead of hiring more workers, but small businesses have traditionally taken up the slack. Though government & non profit jobs have temporarily come to the fore, that can't last.
Also in the US, it’s amazing to be a small business owner. The government supports you in so many ways and gives you so many tax breaks. That combined with a very highly skilled workforce, highly educated population, largest entrepreneurship seed money, and the world’s best connected country from an operations/supply-chain perspective, it makes the US one of the best countries in the world for entrepreneurs. The reason small business thrives in the US isn’t by accident, the government puts a lot of effort and a lot of money to make sure small businesses thrive
Holy shit. This was so eye-opening. I never take what anyone says at face value, but a lot of what you talked about in this video makes sense.
We experience similar situations, in Sri Lanka
The GDP vs jobs thing and the mismatch in the labor market really helped explain what I had been wondering. Like, South Korea seems to dominate economically in so many sectors - semiconducters, cars, shipbuilding, steel, shipping, construction, machinery, electronics, appliances, entertainment but at the same time I would run into Koreans in the US looking for opportunity (rather than lets say "adventure" that typical expats often say) or hear about how hard it is for graduates to find a job and it just didn't make sense to me. I think I have also heard that they have less "high respect" jobs in the internal (non-tradable) sector compared to the US at least which also helps explain the imbalance (even though I have also heard about private education and plastic surgery so who knows).
If anyone from South Korea is reading this - is there a push in society now like in the US to get a "skilled trade" job vs. a white collar job? I'm not sure how "tracked" the education system is so that would probably have a big influence, but in the US where there really isn't any tracking, there is a big push for high school students to get an apprenticeship or go to community college to learn a trade instead of going to college to get a degree in like communications. (Politicians and the media always use gender studies or art history when making this push, but A) - I only know a very small amount of people with these or similar majors, B) - most people I know that have them actually are doing well or went to graduate school, C) - I would imagine based on my limited knowledge that these types of majors are even less common than in the US).
Korean education problem is this, Too many people are getting college and post graduate degrees, whether they have brains for it or not.
right now 80% of Koreans are getting college degrees or higher. That is crazy high number.
Evne USA has only around 60%. That means there are plenty of idiots with college degrees.
obviously companies won't higher these idiots with degrees, because they don't have brains for the required work.
@@tofu1mo794 but if you live abroad, you’ll gonna realize that your country is much better when it comes to the highest medical care and the best insurance. Also the social infrastructure like public transportation and delivery system is awesome.
@@tofu1mo794 Remember South Korea is one of the safest country while America is full of people with guns.
@@mashitta5969 Dont think they care. I know Koreans who have guns in the US lol. Korean students represents the third largest source of foreign students matriculating at U.S. universities.
@@darreldennis7115 You’re right. Actually, Koreans are the top 3 foreign students in America with Indians and Chinese. Considering that male Koreans should serve the military service which is mandatory, they are familiar with using guns. Btw don’t forget the rooftop Koreans :)
Loved this video fantastic KOREA FIGHTING
I was an ESL teacher at a hagwon (private english academy) FOR YEARS, and i felt bad for a lot of my students cuz the need to be successful was so huge (because of the parents). I would say about 90% of the students i had were there cuz their parents made em come. A lot of my students went to like 3 or 4 differnt after school things.They had almost no time to be a kid. Was sad most times.
Here in Morocco we got the same issue, people with university degrees face unemploymebt more then their less educated peers. I guess it's a phenomena that can be seen in many developing countries
I have been in Korea for the past five years, the country is doing well a lot of excitement, and isn't like a 500 years of economic dominance history like western countries do, but enthusiastically learning and growing.
There is a lot of new policies that government implemented maximum of 52 hours per week work.
School grading system has got changed and minimum salary is significant increasing.
What '500 year" has to do with? Like all developed economies SK have a problem with people education structure, all want to have high paid jobs based on a university diploma no one want to do the physical low paying work so it's a inflation of high school educated people, you see this in the West too but not so extreme as in SK and Japan.
In golf countries my guess is the the physical low paying jobs are done almost 100% by imigrants from poor countries, i do not know about education structure.
True. That guy hates South Korea. Report the video !
Have you been paying attention to the suicide rates in South Korea, 4th highest in the world, and still rising? What do you make of them?
@@asdfasdf464 No, Korea does not have the highest suicide rate in the world.
@@neibi3900 Don't just say. Show link . Prove it. No empty talk.
Well made video! I lived in Korea for a few years and you hit the spot!
Congrats, this video just touched the RUclips algorithm! Expect rapid growth or at least a nice peak on your channel! 👍
In the Netherlands the work ethics are very different. I see a lot of young people working part-time simply to have more time for hobbies. I'm 41 yrs of age and work as a Testengineer 5 days per week but I don't feel much pressure, there is a lot of freedom in working here and working from home is accepted by the society. Housing prices and rents have gone up here as well.
as a korean myself this is true long hours of study and then working life is not efficient. we barely had time for family and friends. 😢
6:59 I’d beg to differ
This is highly common to Saudi Arabia
Especially to female graduated because of the huge number of graduates compared to male, and even then both suffer from finding jobs and end up been jobless after graduates
This is issue have risen since 2017 or 2018
And to this day this problem still persist
So this problem isn’t exclusive to South Korea or unheard of anywhere else
Well that is because of Islamic culture ig?
@@shh3910 don’t blame on “Islamic culture” when it’s far from that
The problem here is economic and job related not religion
I hope you’re aware how dumb and uninformed your response was
@@shh3910 well not really, its because Saudi arabia has only 2 main industries (oil, tourism) while south korea has more
@Bub Ibju because people of oil rich countries won't do hard labor. It is beneath them.
For example, When Gadaffi was still in power in Libia, he brought several Korean companies in for construction work.
And he mandated to Korean companies, that they must hire local Libian labors. So they hired Libians to work on construction sites, and thousands came to work, because pay was good, but after the lunch break, most of them never returned. Koreans were first confused and search for these people, but soon foudn out that these Libians thought the work was too hard, and didn't want to work. This was reported back to Gadaffi, and he had to relent and let Koreans bring in Korean laborers from Korea.
More than a century and a half ago a Jewish philosopher and economist predicted these recurring, almost insoluble problems of capitalism - increasing concentration of income and markets in the hands of a few companies and unemployment due to this concentration and the advance of technology taking the place of labor. That economist was called Marx.
South Korea has a high suicide rate, but not the highest in the world - it ranks as nr. 12 (but such statistics are notoriously unreliable, of course). Interestingly, Scandinavian welfare states like Finland and Sweden are also have rather high suicide rates - about the same as Japan. This is a complex issue.
:(
They’re so far north that the lack of sunlight in the winter seriously affects people’s mood.
And it's from older generation, above 60 years old. Suicide rate of young generation in Korea is just same as OECD average.
It's even higher than Japan now.
Thankyou so much for this information
As now Kpop , kdrama boomed in every part of the world
People now forgetting the dark side of this industry... we know that korea is developed but Behind that success there is another world which is hidden from the rest of world
Now People want to work , go to south korea just because of kpop and kdrama
First they should know what they see isn't real !!
First off the mindset of looking down on blue collar jobs must be changed. That's detrimental to any society. Blue collar workers are always more important than people tend to realise. Their jobs are often better paid in developed countries than what people assume because it's hard to find workers.
Due to the rapid growth during the mid-20th century, the perspective on seeing the world is way more different than other countries based on the generations, at least I guess. While the boomer era, when the average GDP growth was over double-digits, people had faith that as long as I dedicated to the company and my job, I would guarantee sufficient income and a rosy future. But nowadays, those hopes are gone because the economy is slowing down rapidly. As a south korean born in late 90s, a lot of my friends have told me that getting a job is freaking hard compared to the past. But people who experienced boomer times tend to not admit the reality but blame us for not putting "enough" work to achieve something(Well, it's not the one-size-fits-all cases, but my personal tendency is tilting to it). So the conflict between generations keeps skyrocketing, which I worry about seriously. Hope one day this crisis goes well.
South Korea truly deserves the status of economic powerhouse considering the fact that the Korean war destroyed almost every thing on their land. By starting from scratch and hardworking with lots of smart people, South Korea now became one of the richest country with the giant company like Samsung, LG, Hyundai, Kia and Lotte. They also have amazing pop culture like Kpop, huge entertainment and film industry. Parasite and Squid game are good example to show the softpower of their country. South Korea’s massive development in just a 50 years is absolutely phenomenal.
South Korea is definitely one of a few countries with powerful military(ranked #6), democracy and rich culture combined.
Ironically, Parasite and Squid Game are the anti-thesis of the values that South Korea promoted.
Although South Korea has some social problems like other countries, we can’t deny how technologically advanced the country is. Specifically, their semiconductor, electronic vehicle battery and shipbuilding is the best in the world. South Korea absolutely has so many things to offer.
We helped the fuck out of South Korea.
@@lif3andthings763
Who is we?
Please describe how “We” helped South Korea?
Sounds like you are unemployed someplace in the world and very jealous of South Korea’s success.
Well said! Typical example of new money. Nothing, I mean, nothing in the country is even near to the expectation of outsiders! Long long way to go!
"its a culture that values working hard versus working smart." is pretty much the accurate summary of what korea is in a nutshell. people are hitting their limits.
I had six degrees when I was young and I taught in the Ivy League, but I grew up and dropped out and grew a garden and chilled. Less stress on the world and on me. My friend Hyungji, whose dad was the education minister in Korea in the nineties, went the other way.
My friend Hyungji's the kind of person who might actually see this video, and might even read all 2,000 comments, for that matter. When we were doing our PhD's in the nineties at Princeton, her dad was the education minister in South Korea. Instead of teaching university in the U.S., she went back to Korea and got involved in that whole hard work racket. Me, I went the other way with my six degrees. I stopped teaching university, dropped out, became a street fighter for a while, then learned to garden. What a different culture. If you read this, Hyungji, hi!
_six degrees_ ,how?😭 Also hope Hyungji is alright!
@@isthatachicken I know, right? Maybe one day Hyungji will notice my comment. My six degrees of separation, as I call them (haven't done anything with them in decades) are a checkered lot. I'm a graduate of Moody Bible Institute, Wycliffe University (but back when it was more Bibley) (B.R.E), McGill English B.A., McGill Medieval Studies M.A., Princeton M.A. Native American Studies, McGill PhD English. And since then I've tried to get my kids to drop out of school at eighth grade because so many famous people only have an eighth-grade education and it's something you can boast about, but it's hard to work "I have six degrees" into a conversation.
@@davidthomson802 😂😂it can be a conversation starter but please let the kids finish for the sake of emotional development and whatnot. McGill? Canada?
@@davidthomson802 I was impressed at first but those are not actual "real" degrees lmao
I swear arts student are so weird
@@zboobafett5984 Long time ago. My social life at Princeton was the scientists. Grew up with that as my dad was a geophysicist. Education is mostly just a form of debt slavery for undergrads these days. Engineering is teaching ever new ways to destroy the planet. Even starting grad school I was already falling out of the whole thing--turned down Yale to go to Princeton, just a general falling away. I did a lot of philosophy of science and the p of s guys were light years smarter than the scientists and the philosophers, but they weren't getting jobs--why would they, basically critiquing the pay checks of both camps. Education is how our species maintains its illusions. Excuse my long answer but I type fast and don't go on line much and it's been many a decade since anyone called me an arts student. I also did engineering at LeTourneau College in Longview, Texas and a bit at Lowell University in Massachusetts and even a quarter at Alabama Aviation and Technological College in Ozark Alabama, but engineering types were just a little too socially dull for my taste. All of that engineering stuff just a semester or two at each place. Studied for stuff I never followed up on, like microscopy and A&P stuff related to flying. I didn't really set out to get a lot of education but at a certain point they just keep giving you money for the next degree. All pretty ironic, given that I would never encourage anyone to go to university. It's mostly credentialist yearning: a good way to avoid learning about the self. I barely even read anymore. If I need a good book these days, I usually just write one. Well that was fun for me. It's been a few years since I thought about my education. Anyway, long answer to ask you one question: what would count as real?
This same problem is happening to some degree in the USA. Companies immigrate highly degreed workers from abroad who will accept lower wages (at first) to get situated in the USA. They then fall into problems when their productivity is not meeting the needs of the company. They end up in unrelated lower paying jobs barely making it.
South Korea also has the fifth highest rate of alcoholics among developed nations.
It's fascinating to see the difference in attitudes towards university and jobs between Westerners and East Asians.
Westerners nowadays see university as an annoyance and treat education as something that starts once you leave university (blame the prevalence of idealogues on campus for that; even Ivy League hasn't escaped it). It's also common to hear Westerners say that their work colleagues are not their friends, and there's no way they're mixing their work and private life together.
This is why innovation is superior than hardwork... Not just in technology but also in mentality.
Westerners got it right since ancient Greece to modern America.
I love South Korea, and I wish my country was as hard working sometimes, but PERFECT isn't easy and never existed, we are living, we learn from mistakes and things can't always be good, even the best of things. But if you look closely, the world is slowly opening up and understanding we are all different, and that's what makes us unique.
Hey, how about making a video talking about the dark side of your own country
well-pointed out.