South Korean Youth in Crisis Implications for Political Leadership

At the end of the year, the mass media in Korea was busy picking up keywords that describe Korean society in the year 2015. For Koreans in their twenties, one of the most referred-to buzzwords is “hell-Chosun.” This bizarre combination of two words—”hell” and “Chosun”—circulated widely among the young generation. “Hell” implies all the negative and depressing features of South Korean society today. For example, South Korean teenagers have to study at hak-won (private tutoring institutions) after school and are only able to go home around midnight—all for the goal of getting into a prestigious college. College graduates, of course, have their own competition of acquiring a secure and well-paying job. But the most serious problem is that these efforts do not necessarily guarantee success. It is not so difficult to imagine then why many young people in South Korea are pessimistic about their own futures and the society in which they live.