Kim Ri-Oh was working as a photojournalist at a magazine in Seoul when the mental stress of being the most junior employee brought her to a breaking point. Working weekends and overtime shifts that didn’t end until after 11pm was the norm. Around her two-year anniversary at the company, Kim found out that she was being paid considerably less than a male colleague who was new to the company.

“I started losing sight of what used to bring me joy. Death was on my mind often. I had done everything asked of me. Graduated from high school, college, and found a stable job that my family approved of. But what meaning did it have for me? It was my life, but I couldn’t find me in it.”

And she’s not alone. Young Koreans, many experiencing similar disillusionment, are pushing back against conventional ideas about professional success and social responsibilities. And a number of projects and businesses are springing up to support this.

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Kim, 26, now works at one such project called Don’t Worry Village. Situated in the rapidly depopulating port city of Mokpo in southwestern Korea, Don’t Worry Village was set up in 2018, with help from government funding to redevelop unused buildings, and is currently operated by a group of 20 and 30-something-year-olds. Its slogan is: “It’s okay to rest. It’s okay to fail.”