South Korea is a Cyberpunk Dystopia

In this video essay we discuss South Korea, and it's dependence on Samsung and other Chaebol. Additionally we discuss many other facets of Korean society such as the CSAT/ Suneung Exam.

Sorry the audio is weird, I had to use the youtube editor to crop out some of the copyrighted music I originally used

[Kitsune-kun]

I've always found quite remarkable how koreans managed to create a communist AND a capitalist dystopia

[SofaMuncher]

Exposing your youth to 10-12 hour school days leading directly into compulsory military service feels like a crime against humanity.

[CanonessEllinor]

Not having kids in this type of society honestly feels like an act of kindness. What loving parent would want their child to live like that?

[crazylittlegay]

1:45 Additionally, Samsung has a private security company called 에스원(S-1). It's like Arasaka's security team

[kosipisakii]

Amazing how they were able to fit two dystopias in one peninsula

[ks_ig]

It’s amazing how both North and South Korea became the caricatures they portray each other.

[vbgpgdt]

I'm a native of Korea and I'm currently working in the funeral industry. This will also house funerals for people who died by suicide. Unfortunately, most of those who died by suicide are young students or beginners in their early 20s. They must have all been exhausted in the constant competition. I hope this social system in my country will change as soon as possible.

[jazzkang]

As a native Korean, I can relate to the line from 8:20. If large corporations like Samsung, Hyundai, and LG collapse, our country will collapse. In Korea, the difference between large corporations and small and medium-sized enterprises is incomparably large. I see this as one of Korea's many Achilles heels.

[nulnoh]

Neo-Feudalism. Or Corporate Feudalism. These companies controls every facet of an employee's lives. Housing, education, healthcare, etc. The Chaebols are basically medieval feudal families.

[hedgehoginasunhat]

I lived there for 5 years as a teacher in both public and private settings. The reality of it is really miserable, I got to know some of my students well in my final year working at an after school academy. These were elementary school kids, most days I was forced to call them for speaking tests after lessons finished.

One of them told me he was really tired because he had lessons all day, was going to have dinner quickly and then work on homework before his online English class, which finished after 10 pm. That kid was studying more than 12 hours a day. One time he broke down into tears because he got under 70 on one of the daily tests we do and his father would be "very angry", so I quickly doctored the test and gave him a little pep talk outside to let him know he can always tell me if he feels like he might get in trouble. I told him that his happiness and safety is much, much more important that the little red number on the paper, but of course in SK it seems to be the opposite.

I still think about this kid. I think about all of them. A several months after that happened he was back in my class, and I was fighting to hold back tears while they were doing a test. Korean work culture is another hell entirely. He noticed I wasn't too cheerful when he handed in his test, so he put his hand on my shoulder and said "Teacher, it's okay."

God, please, if I taught them only one thing, I hope it was compassion.

[pads]

I'm Mexican, and I made friends with a Korean woman living in my city. I remember she would tell me how she would spend months without even talking to her friends and that it was actually a normal thing to do. That, actually, if you continuously tried to arrange plans with friends they would think you're slacking off and not doing anything productive.
As a Latin American, I was just shocked every time she told me that kind of things and it was so alien to me how she would measure everything in terms of productivity, even more than us in the Western hemisphere.

[someday-beethoven]

As a Korean, thank you for dealing with the problems in Korea.

Korean society definitely has a grotesque side to it. And I'm really sick of it. In Korea, they don't teach us how to be happy as a single human being. There's only competition here. Low birth rates and highest suicide rates tell us this. Recently, marriage rates are also going down. Provincial cities disappearing and children are disappearing. Unless something big happens, this will continue. And I hope the problem isn't too tragic.

Once again, thank you for your interest in the problem in Korea.

[ddd-opwy]

Their education system is actually really sad when you think about it, even sadder than it appears at first. All studies prove that 8-10 hours of sleep improve memory and cognitive ability by so much that any good student should value those hours way more as sleeping time compared to studying. Not only that, focus diminishes the more it is used, and breaks are mandatory for replenishing it. This means studying long hours straight is inefficient. So not only are the students living in horrible conditions, they're legitimately not even benefiting from it at all.

[randmatin]

I remember a Korean student came to our school in the U.K. on secondment when we were 15. He was, by his own description, extremely lazy, and a bad boy. He had a leather jacket, and he had flunked out of his school in Korea. And he was the best mathematician in our entire school - he was out performing the kids tipped to do Maths at Cambridge 3 years ahead of us, and after a few months they let him just pick his own work from his old Korean textbooks. Dude was an absolute beast, and honestly a super chill guy.

[chunduck_]

As a student living in Korea, I totally agree with you regarding education. Fortunately, my parents don't force me to study, but when I see others, parents and children are strangely obsessed with studying. I think that's probably because most Koreans have a culture of ignoring engineers.

[lorddrac_dontaskmetodance]

South Korea is so corporate, their national flag is the Pepsi logo. 😂

[intifadayuri]

People tend to forget cyberpunk is a genre about the horrors of necro capitalism and the immoral use of technology. The fancy neon light so characteristic of the genre are supposed to be invasive, uncomfortable to the point there is no longer a space without advertisements

[ubacow]

The original Cyberpunk scene was actually, based on HK Kowloon, the neon lights, chinese text & logos, crowded cities, rain, alleys, & dirty environments. It was Akira that really brought all of it to light which solidified cyberpunk into a hard concept, Japan depicted the ideal cyberpunk society, but Korea might be closer to the social aspects of cyberpunk society.

[jongpac]

I am one of the Korean who recently moved in Canada in my 40s. I think I’ve went through all the competitions that you mentioned in this video. During pandemic, immigrate to Canada with 4of my family. I realized it’s never too late to challenge for your better life, and living in a new world is also tough but grateful opportunity! 🎉

[cumulus]

So Samsung is just the Dutch East India company of the modern age except Asian. Got it.