0:02 on the surface South Korea is one of the
0:04 most remarkable countries anyone has
0:06 ever seen transforming from being poorer
0:09 than most African nations to being one
0:11 of the richest countries in the world in
0:13 less than 50 years all while its
0:15 northern neighbor has remained
0:17 economically backward in this story
0:20 often told in the media South Korea can
0:23 do no wrong but this doesn't paint the
0:25 full picture beneath the glittering
0:27 skyscrapers and world-renowned Brands
0:30 there's a darker side to South Korea's
0:32 rapid rise one that's pushing the nation
0:36 toward a dystopian reality in 2020 South
0:39 Korea witnessed 500 deaths from a
0:41 strange new phenomenon so strange in
0:44 fact that it developed its own term gu
0:48 Roa or death by overwork at the heart of
0:50 this toxic culture are a handful of
0:52 powerful companies which run the
0:55 country's economy and its politicians in
0:58 fact just one of these companies Samsung
1:00 accounts for nearly 20% of career's
1:03 entire economy in a land controlled by
1:05 the few and not the many people are
1:08 switching off for a country just to keep
1:10 a stable population Every Woman must
1:13 have 2.1 children in South Korea this
1:15 figure is only
1:18 .7 three times less than the replacement
1:21 rate and in 2020 for the first time in
1:24 the country's history more people died
1:25 than were born the South Korean
1:27 government are not new to coming up with
1:30 solutions from promoting actions like
1:33 this on TV to suggesting that girls
1:35 should start school a year earlier to
1:37 make them more appealing to men it's
1:39 just that none of them seem to do
1:42 anything to address the root cause by
1:43 blending the harshest aspects of
1:46 capitalism with traditional Asian
1:48 hierarchies South Korea has created a
1:50 society defined by Relentless
1:53 competition and materialism leaving many
1:55 questioning whether this rapid rise was
1:58 worth the cost or if it was just
2:01 inevitable to understand how modern day
2:03 South Korea became so broken we first
2:06 need to go back in history the culture
2:08 of stress and living under threat is not
2:11 new and at the start of the 20th century
2:14 Korea was invaded by Japan and occupied
2:17 under brutal colonial rule for 35 years
2:20 but after being liberated in 1945 it was
2:22 only 5 short years until another
2:25 conflict emerged dividing the peninsula
2:28 in two occupation World War II and then
2:32 the Korean War had left deep scars South
2:33 Korea was desperately poor and
2:36 vulnerable to further attacks despite
2:38 support from the United States it became
2:40 clear that the only path out of this
2:43 dire situation was rapid economic growth
2:45 an educated talented Workforce the
2:47 government reasoned would be able to
2:49 rebuild the country and power its
2:51 exports to the world under the
2:54 leadership of Park Chang he education
2:56 became the Cornerstone of South Korea's
2:59 Redevelopment plan this intense focus on
3:02 education tapped into a deep Cultural
3:04 Drive for achievement rooted in
3:07 Confucian ideals of respect for elders
3:10 strict hierarchy and an unwavering
3:13 dedication to work while this philosophy
3:16 is common across East Asia South Korea
3:18 adopted it with a uniquely intense focus
3:21 on academic success as the ultimate
3:23 measure of personal worth it is often
3:25 said that the path to hell is paved with
3:28 good intentions and what began as a plan
3:29 to rebuild the nation through Ed
3:32 education and hard work soon spiraled
3:35 into an obsession planting the seeds of
3:37 the country's modern day crisis more and
3:40 more people began attending universities
3:42 but before long an anxious pressure
3:44 around academic performance had bled
3:47 into elementary middle schools and even
3:51 kindergartens in 2020 around one quarter
3:53 of all Korean students expressed
3:56 symptoms of depression and in the last 6
3:59 years alone the number of 6 to 11y olds
4:02 treated for depression has doubled as
4:04 education became the ultimate vehicle
4:06 for social mobility in South Korea
4:08 families were driven to extraordinary
4:10 lengths to secure an edge for their
4:13 children this Obsession gave rise to
4:16 hugw ones private acmis where parents
4:18 pour vast resources to ensure their
4:21 children's success today these cies form
4:25 a 20 billion industry catering primarily
4:27 to those who can afford the high fees
4:30 all this pressure builds up to the C at
4:33 exams growling 8-hour long tests that
4:35 can determine a student's University
4:38 Place and entire future while South
4:40 Korea has prided itself on being a
4:42 meritocracy the sheer importance of
4:45 these exams has created a system that is
4:47 anything but many of the questions
4:49 extend far beyond the curriculum taught
4:52 in public schools favoring students who
4:54 have attended these Elite hug ones and
4:56 for lower income children this
4:58 essentially sets them up for failure
5:00 before they've even begun why all this
5:02 pressure the ultimate goal for a Korean
5:05 18-year-old is to gain admission to one
5:07 of South Korea's prestigious Sky
5:10 universities Soul National Korea or
5:13 Yonce seen as the key to a successful
5:15 career and a brighter future admission
5:18 to these universities is typically only
5:20 granted to students within the top 1% of
5:24 performers but in 2010 46% of high
5:27 government ranking officials and 50% of
5:30 CEOs in the major Financial industries
5:32 were graduates of these universities in
5:35 many ways these institutions are the be
5:38 and endle of Korean Society serving as
5:41 the final Gatekeepers of opportunities
5:43 even outside of these Elite institutions
5:46 around 70% of Koreans go to university
5:48 this is the highest rate in the world
5:50 which you may think is a good thing but
5:53 it has actually created an interesting
5:55 phenomenon despite so many educated
5:58 people Korea also has one of the highest
6:00 rates of Youth inactivity anywhere in
6:03 the world essentially Koreans are either
6:05 going to University or they are quietly
6:08 giving up on life or in many cases both
6:10 well over half a million young people
6:13 are simply unwilling to seek employment
6:15 and 45% of these people who are in
6:18 active have a University degree this
6:19 phenomenon of people quietly checking
6:21 out on life has become known as
6:24 careers's sampo generation this
6:26 translates to the three sacrifice
6:28 Generation The Generation which must
6:30 give up relationships children and
6:33 marriage in order to survive in the
6:35 modern economy you think that after
6:36 enduring a Relentless schedule from
6:39 kindergarten through a top university
6:41 your future would finally open up this
6:43 was once the case in the decades
6:46 following the Korean War the ideals of
6:48 hard work and diligence offered a path
6:51 to owning a home supporting a family and
6:53 collectively rebuilding the nation
6:55 sacrifice meant not just Personal
6:57 Achievement but also contributing to a
7:00 shared goal transforming a War torn
7:03 country into an economic success story
7:05 however today that sense of communal
7:09 purpose has faded a survey done in 2019
7:12 found that 90% of South Korean women and
7:14 82% of young men believe that people
7:17 born into poverty can never compete with
7:20 those born into wealth education is no
7:22 longer the vehicle for Upward Mobility
7:24 which it once was and yet people still
7:27 value it so much in developed countries
7:29 going to University usually Rewards for
7:32 you with more pay typically 40% more
7:34 while in the US that could be even
7:37 higher but in South Korea this figure is
7:40 just 20% in fact many students Now find
7:42 that their degrees have actually been a
7:44 net lost as they will never make back
7:47 the cost of tuition unfortunately as so
7:49 many people have now gone to University
7:51 it isn't really that unique anymore and
7:53 in order to stand out more and more
7:56 education is required creating what has
7:59 been known as an education bubble in in
8:02 a society obsessed with hard work
8:04 diligence meant eventually securing a
8:06 home and raising a family but now it
8:08 barely covers the rent that is if you're
8:11 lucky however in South Korea's capital
8:15 Soul this effect is Extreme over half of
8:17 South Korea live in the capital and this
8:19 is also home to the infamous Sky
8:23 universities the Pinnacle of society
8:24 since everyone who wants to do well
8:26 tries to go to one of these universities
8:28 and most people who employ those
8:30 graduates it also set up in the same
8:33 town the gradual buildup of people and
8:35 some really restrictive regulations
8:36 which prevent large scale property
8:38 development has made the housing market
8:40 of bidding wall which is usually won by
8:43 the elite in society an unintended
8:45 Consequence the concentrating economic
8:48 opportunities in a few expensive Urban
8:50 centers like soul is leading to the
8:53 biggest problem facing Korea nobody is
8:56 having kids anymore in rural areas
8:58 children are often seen as contributors
9:00 to family labor but by contrast in
9:03 cities the cost of raising a children's
9:05 skyrockets while work life balance has
9:08 become nearly non-existent but this is
9:10 only one from a whole list of reasons as
9:13 to why many South Koreans are simply not
9:15 having children aside from the brutal
9:17 work culture the traditional patriarchal
9:20 model of the early married stay-at-home
9:22 mother has deep roots in South Korean
9:25 history and confusion gender Norms but
9:27 instead of clinging to this vision of
9:29 bygone social relations which are now
9:31 nearly impossible to fulfill in career's
9:34 modern economy promoting a new one may
9:36 help child birth outside of marriage is
9:38 still heavily frowned upon in South
9:40 Korean society yet the bar to marriage
9:43 remains very high this is because it is
9:45 often associated with wealth notably for
9:49 buying a house this creates a catch 22
9:51 whereby people envisage marriage only if
9:53 they can afford a house but affording a
9:55 house is more challenging for unmarried
9:57 people than married people many Koreans
9:59 are now uninterested in marriage but
10:01 still want to have children yet
10:03 suffering the condemnation of having a
10:05 child out of wedlock likely discourages
10:09 them in 2022 only 2% of births in South
10:12 Korea occurred outside of marriage the
10:15 oecd average is around 40% and Rises to
10:18 rates like 60% in some countries like
10:20 France giving legal recognition to
10:23 non-married families would also help and
10:25 reducing social stigma around this area
10:27 is one of the many levers the South
10:29 Korean government can pull to fix the
10:31 crisis is but one which they seem
10:33 reluctant to do what is adding to this
10:35 problem and making people less
10:37 optimistic about life is South Korea's
10:40 job market more specifically the sheer
10:42 domination of the entire economy by a
10:45 literal handful of corporations during
10:48 South Korea's rapid industrialization a
10:50 few companies in particular came to
10:52 dominate Korea's export success and
10:55 Inter their economy these are of course
10:57 Korea's Infamous cha balls companies
11:00 like Samsung Hyundai and LG which place
11:02 members of the founding family in
11:05 ownership of management positions the
11:07 top five taken together represent nearly
11:10 2/3 of the entire Korean stock market's
11:13 value but despite such dominance
11:14 employment in these companies only works
11:18 out to around 12% of jobs in the market
11:19 the amount of money controlled by these
11:21 companies has meant that employment in
11:24 cha balls has become synonymous with
11:26 stability Prestige and Financial
11:28 Security these family owned corporate
11:31 Giants offers salaries and benefits that
11:34 outshine most Alternatives granting them
11:36 an almost magnetic pull on job seekers
11:39 in fact Samsung alone is estimated to
11:41 account for around 20% of South Korea's
11:44 GDP owning subsidiaries across almost
11:47 all aspects of Korean life this kind of
11:49 corporate dominance is not normal in the
11:51 United States the largest company
11:55 Walmart accounts for around 2% of GDP
11:57 but aside from being absolutely terrible
11:59 for smaller businesses this dominant
12:01 structure has bred a further wave of
12:04 rigid hierarchy and toxic corporate
12:06 culture Korea's terrible work
12:08 environment is well renowned for being
12:10 one of the worst in the world and has
12:11 consistently been the worst place to
12:14 work as a woman in the oecd for the last
12:16 12 years unfortunately these strict
12:18 hierarchies don't just lead to a
12:20 stressful environment but often have far-reaching
12:21 far-reaching
12:23 consequences not just for junior
12:25 employees or newcomers but for the
12:28 entire Society this was made famous in
12:30 Malcolm gladwell's book outliers which
12:33 follows the case of the 1997 Korean Air
12:36 crash in Guam in this case hierarchical
12:39 structure prevented a junior pilot from
12:41 reporting a critical error to a superior
12:44 contributing to the deaths of over 200
12:46 passengers and crew but unfortunately as
12:49 Korea's economy developed this hierarchy
12:52 extended itself across Society where
12:54 these cha bolts were placed at the top
12:57 of Korean society and devoid of any real
12:59 accountability particularly when it came
13:00 to their relationship with the
13:02 government historically the cha balls
13:03 have been seen as pillars of the
13:06 nation's post-war economic success and
13:09 for decades South Korean leaders have
13:11 equated their achievements with national
13:13 Prosperity essentially creating a
13:15 relationship in which any criticism of
13:17 these companies was akin to being
13:20 unpatriotic politicians often rely on
13:22 them for campaign financing and promote
13:24 their successes as National triumphs
13:26 while chals Lobby for favorable
13:29 legislation and public policies this
13:31 cozy relationship however has become
13:33 increasingly problematic for the country
13:36 not just in the waves of the scandals
13:38 from the Su fairy disaster where over
13:40 300 lives were lost due to Illegal
13:43 modifications and lack safety oversight
13:45 to Samsung's bribery Scandal which or
13:48 Millions exchanged for political favors
13:49 and led to the impeachment of a
13:51 president but for actually slowly
13:54 crippling careers economy structural
13:56 rigidities in its labor and product
13:58 markets have hampered productivity and innovation
13:59 innovation
14:02 excessive regulations entry barriers for
14:04 startups and the dominance of
14:06 conglomerates Shield large firms from
14:07 competition while stifling
14:10 entrepreneurship at the same time rigid
14:12 labor laws such as the seniority based
14:14 pay and strong protections for regular
14:16 workers make it difficult for companies
14:19 to adapt to technological changes and
14:21 New Opportunities ultimately South
14:23 Korea's struggles with low productivity
14:26 and inequality stem from a combination
14:29 of hierarchical cultural norms sustain
14:31 iic corruption and structural
14:33 inefficiencies addressing these issues
14:34 requires not only breaking the
14:36 entrenched ties between government and
14:38 Cha balls but also fostering a more
14:41 flexible competitive and Innovative
14:43 economic environment the result of all
14:45 this is not just an economy which is
14:48 slowing but something far more serious a
14:51 society which is more suicidal depressed
14:53 and ready to give up on life than any
14:55 time in the country's history and one
14:57 which unsurprisingly people do not want
15:00 to have children in the response in
15:02 Korea to their own demographic time War
15:04 has been somewhat surprising with some
15:06 reasoning that the main issue may not be
15:09 the rigid hierarchy or corporate fueled
15:12 expensive living but in fact feminism
15:14 while movements like 4B which promote no
15:16 relationships with men certainly aren't
15:19 making any more children South Korea's
15:22 demographic crisis far predates the rise
15:24 of feminism as a widespread Outlook and
15:27 the 2017 me to movement in fact it was
15:30 more than 40 years ago in
15:33 1983 when South Korea's fertility rate
15:37 first fell below 2.1 dropping to 1.5 in
15:39 1998 before reaching the worrying lows
15:44 of 0.72 today in December 2024 South
15:46 Korea made headlines when their
15:48 president tried to set up military law
15:50 over the country this once again shown a
15:52 spotlight on a country that is often
15:55 overlooked by its more controversial
15:57 Northern neighbor but in many ways it is
15:59 a country with even more profound
16:01 challenges these challenges are not just
16:02 the byproducts of rapid
16:04 industrialization they are woven into
16:07 the very fabric of South Korea's success
16:09 the same structures that once fueled
16:11 growth and prosperity now leave many
16:14 disillusioned burnt out and unable to
16:17 Envision a brighter future the question
16:19 is not whether South Korea can change
16:20 but whether it's ready to confront the
16:23 structures and ideals that brought it
