The Dark Side of South Korea's Incredible Economic Success

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...

[ExplainedwithDom]

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!

[alaskanbullworm]

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.

[summerkim]

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! 🥰

[happy]

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..

[eugeneso]

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.

[srbtlevse]

This shows us that governments should not only prioritize economic situations, but also the human one (happiness, family, rest, recreation, etc.).

[signupstuff]

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.

[wonhong]

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.

[surekhapisal]

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🤗

[aryanraje]

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.

[Syeal]

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.

[skeiltte]

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.

[princesssadia]

This is hell.
Working smartly is more important than working hard

[pj]

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.

[kapdolkim]

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.

[dipayandey]

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.

[rob]

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

[gunny]

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.

[brianarbenz]

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!

[tonikpun]

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.