When he was a school freshman in 2019, Jeong Hyun-min generally had lower than $10 to cowl meals for 3 days. That similar yr, a scandal erupted in South Korea that also roils him right this moment.
While Jeong was cleansing tables and serving drinks at beer halls simply to make ends meet, the nation’s justice minister and his spouse have been accused of pulling strings to assist their daughter glide into medical college, even fabricating an award certificates.
“I realized what people had been saying all along: Your chances in this country are determined by what kind of parents you have,” mentioned Jeong, a political science main at Daejeon University. “Fairness is the key if politicians want our trust back.”
On Wednesday, South Koreans will elect a brand new president and all eyes are on younger folks, whose disillusionment with the federal government has made this one of the vital tightly fought races in latest reminiscence.
Frustrated over sky-high housing costs, an absence of job alternatives and a widening earnings hole, younger individuals who have been as soon as thought-about reliably progressive voters are actually seen as undecided and can most probably tip the stability within the election.
Unlike earlier generations, these voters will not be simply swayed by outdated political dynamics, akin to regional allegiance, loyalty to political bosses, worry of North Korea or a need to ease stress on the Korean Peninsula. Instead, they speak of financial despair and basic frustration as their main considerations, themes captured in fashionable motion pictures and TV dramas like “Parasite” and “Squid Game.”
Many have adopted a saying: “isaenggeul,” or “We can’t make it in this life.”
“In the past, young South Koreans tended to vote progressive, but now they have become swing voters,” mentioned professor Kim Hyung-joon, an election knowledgeable at Myongji University in Seoul. “To them, nothing matters as much as fairness and equal opportunity and which candidate will provide it.”
Yoon Suk-yeol, the main candidate from the opposition People Power Party, has received over voters of their 60s and older by pitching their most well-liked conservative agenda. He has championed a stronger alliance with the United States and even threatened “pre-emptive strikes” in opposition to North Korea.
Yoon’s rival, Lee Jae-myung, the candidate representing President Moon Jae-in’s Democratic Party, stays fashionable amongst voters of their 40s and 50s. He has known as for a diplomatic stability between the United States, South Korea’s safety ally, and China, its greatest buying and selling companion.
Lee Jae-myung, the presidential election candidate of the ruling Democratic Party, gestures throughout a presidential election marketing campaign in Seoul. (Photo: AP)
Few of those points have roused South Koreans of their 20s and 30s, who make up one-third of the eligible voters, as a lot as they did older voters. Rather, on high of their minds is an unsure financial future.
“We will be the first generation whose standard of living will be lower than our parents’,” mentioned Kim Dong-min, 24, a scholar at Konkuk University Law School.
In the a long time following the 1950-53 Korean War, most South Koreans have been equally poor. Those who discovered success have been sometimes called “a dragon rising from a humble ditch.”
Placards that includes ruling and opposition presidential candidates dangle over a road in Seoul, South Korea on Feb. 17, 2022 | AP
Middle-class desires have been believable because the postwar economic system roared, churning out jobs. Education functioned as a car of upward mobility. Millions of individuals migrated to the Seoul metropolitan space, the place the perfect colleges and a lot of the nation’s wealth was finally concentrated.
Getting a level from an elite college and proudly owning an residence in Seoul turned symbols of social mobility. But in latest a long time, the economic system slowed, and that outdated components has damaged down. In a survey final yr, almost 65% of the respondents in South Korea mentioned they have been skeptical that their youngsters’s financial future can be higher than their very own.
People hearken to the speech of Yoon Suk Yeol, the presidential candidate of the principle opposition People Power Party, throughout a presidential election marketing campaign in Seoul, South Korea on March 5, 2022 | AP
In South Korea, the place almost three-quarters of family wealth is concentrated in actual property, no index illustrates widening inequality fairly like housing costs. Young {couples} whose rich dad and mom helped them purchase residences — a convention in South Korea — noticed their property worth in Seoul almost double beneath Moon.
The common family, then again, should save its complete earnings for 18.5 years as a way to afford an residence within the metropolis, in line with estimates by KB Kookmin Bank.
“It has become impossible to buy an apartment in Seoul, even if you work and save for your entire life,” mentioned Park Eun-hye, 27, who works at Youth Mungan, a civic group that gives reasonably priced meals for poor youths. “Whatever the candidates say sounds unconvincing. Young people instead invest what little money we save in stocks and cryptocurrencies.”
South Korea’s poverty price and its earnings inequality are among the many worst in rich nations, with youths dealing with a few of the steepest challenges. Nearly 1 in 5 South Koreans between the ages of 15 and 29 was successfully jobless as of January, in line with authorities information. That is much increased than the nationwide common, 13.1%.
Upon his inauguration, Moon promised “equal opportunities” for everybody.
“The process will be fair,” he mentioned. “And the result will be righteous.”
Many younger folks declare equity and equal alternative — or their variations of these values — have been eroded as a substitute. They bristled when Moon’s authorities shaped a joint ice hockey group with North Korea for the 2018 Winter Olympics, arguing that it was unfair to interchange elite South Korean athletes with inferior North Korean gamers.
And final yr, after a scandal revealed officers had used their place to hunt private achieve within the housing market, younger voters helped ship Moon’s authorities a crushing defeat within the Seoul mayoral election.
Rival political events have since rushed to appease South Korean youth. Lawmakers lowered the minimal voting age to 18 from 19 and the age restrict for operating for parliament to 18 from 25. Lee and Yoon, the 2 main presidential candidates, have each apologized and have utilized completely different ways to win votes.
Yoon’s reputation soared amongst males within the 20s after he promised to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Women and sidelined a marketing campaign adviser who recognized as a feminist. Anti-feminist sentiments are widespread among the many younger males.
Lee is extra fashionable amongst ladies of their 20s, and he has promised to introduce harsher punishment for date rape and different intercourse crimes. He additionally campaigned to make firms reveal gender-wage gaps to their staff and to the general public.
But 20% to 30% of South Koreans of their 20s and 30s have mentioned they could change their thoughts about their most well-liked candidate earlier than they vote this week, in line with surveys.
“Our support shifts from one political party to another, issue by issue,” Jeong mentioned.
