The Real Reason Why South Korea Is Dying Out

[Nate-jyli]

S. Korea is not a real country. It's a corporation with a state.

[derekfutrell]

I live in Pyeongtaek, and it’s MUCH more likely to see a small dog in a baby stroller than it is a human baby 😢

[JRPGGUY]

0.7 birthrate. That means each generation will be less than half the prior.

[explorernas]

This proves that everything that looks shiny is not gold.

[biber]

Korean obsession with Seoul is so weird. You cant tell me that cities like Busan, Incheon, Daegu doesn't have it all. Incheon is so close to Seoul and it has it absolutely all... foreigners, bars, restaurants, every possible shopping option, good universities, good private schools, best airport in the country, good nightlife...and if you miss something you can hop on the subway, bus, car and you will be in Seoul in hour or less.

Apartments are so much cheaper in Incheon...same apartment that would cost you 1 million euros in Seoul is around 350-400k euros in Incheon. In Suwon is even cheaper and in Busan prices are like in Incheon.

[ehec-sj]

I live in Korean suburb and things are working out in the way that more and more people are moving out of Seoul to enjoy relaxing and laid back lifestyle compared to Seoul after experiencing too much competition in Seoul. I think it is of relief that the problem is being solved naturally

[threesixninesix]

Britain should really move its capital too. London is strangling other cities, from as close south as Birmingham to as far north as Glasgow. Somewhere in the middle of the island and more down to earth would be great, like Liverpool, Manchester or Leeds.

[DissidentNomad]

Over 10 years in South Korea. This is a good video but it's the culture as a whole, as well as industrialised life more generally, that is strangling the country, not just Seoul.

[alehaim]

One of the problems with the new xapital in its design phase that absolutely didn't help was the lack of any real public transport, which would've been easier to build there than in Seoul, yet they instead only added buses like afterwards

[Justin-jhym]

Same thing is happening with the UK, London is supporting the rest of the country.

[RealTaIk]

The only solution I could think of is when korea decided to push more for remote working, online education and all those kinda things that don't require you to necessarily be on seoul. Maybe even create an insentive for companies to pay more money to their workers who don't work in seoul and openly talk about it.

[kharlanhero]

Same thing happens in Mexico with Mexico City. Everything has to go through here and then to the rest of the country. At least we have two other major cities that balance it out and they are growing because México City is getting to expensive and too crowded

[wanr]

Their focus and over reliance on Seoul is shocking. In Japan, they have Nagoya, Osaka, Fukuoka and numerous other smaller cities as their engines for economic growth alongside Tokyo. In Germany they have Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Koln, Hamburg, Augsburg, Bremen as the engines for economic growth alongside Munich and Berlin. In India they have Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata as economic engines for India alongside New Delhi.

Why Korean government and planners did not spread out the economic development evenly throughout the country for years, instead just focusing on Seoul alone?

[linuxman]

It is good to have multiple major cities as it makes the country more resilient, if one city fails or is nuked, the whole country won't fail completely. The US, China, India don't have an overwhelming dominant primate city and it has allowed for more regional specialization

[Ivan-prku]

Large metropolises are sterilization zones for any population. People procreate more and build stronger families in smaller and dispersed communities that are more manageable and tightly knitted, where everyone knows and trusts each other and the wealth is more fairly distributed.

[iioxe]

omg finally someone said the real issue. There's literally ONE city in this entire country, compared to even Japan etc

[michaelrespicio]

This is what happens when you "sell your Seoul"...
Jokes aside, this is exactly why I'm baffled whenever somebody plans to move to Korea. Many people there are depressed, and this is why. They did this to themselves, and it's a shame to see foreigners borderline throw their lives away just because they're a little too obsessed with Kdramas and Kpop...

[ilililiililiil]

My sister works as a programmer in Seoul, and she pays 1000 dollars per month for rent to live in a shipping container in the rooftop. It’s not even in the center of Seoul but a shabby corner of the city

[gunnergunnarsson]

Same can be said about my country Singapore, we are now facing a fertility rate of less than 1. Due to cultural, economical issues, many people are not willing to have kids. And understandably so. The future isn’t looking bright when the middle class are getting sandwiched with each passing year

[alma]

I totally understand how insecure young couple feel about their future today. I constantly worry about my daughter. She is doing ok but I can see her daily stress. Poor girl is only 23. She already told me she doesn't plan to have kid cuz the future world is not stable. Why bring one more human to this uncertain world.