Korea Economic Reader Seoul, Korea Updates and Commentaries Click here to view this message online. Tweet Coyner's Comment Often I suggest to Don Kirk and his fellow journalists that the big story of what is happening in South Korea is under-reported or even neglected. That is the wide-spread situation of under-employed young people who find themselves denied opportunities to follow in the footsteps of their fathers as employees of medium-sized and larger companies. It’s great to be entrepreneurial, but it is something else when one is forced to fend for oneself, given the lack of meaningful employment opportunity. To Mr Kirk’s credit, he delves into this topic. Taking into account the economic environment he accurately describes, it comes as no surprise that many of the best of young Koreans dream of emigration. And those who do emigrate at an early age, find themselves being pulled back to Korea by family ties, but too often without adequate chances of finding employment. After a three-month hiatus, largely spent in Thailand and Myanmar, I am resuming my photographic reportage projects. One of which is “Korea Ink” that explores the lives of young people who openly display tattoos. While the project includes foreigners, perhaps the most interesting images and stories are of Koreans. Indelibly marking one’s body is an affront to traditional Confucian values and historically linked to organized crime. But all such Koreans I have encountered while carrying out this project are well educated and remarkably polite - and even respectful to me as an older person. From these interactions and experiences, I have labeled this larger, if under-reported, part of society as the ‘Alternative Culture.’ Unlike the ‘counter cultures’ fond in the west, most of the participants were originally involuntary joiners. Simply stated, they were not permitted to join mainstream society in roles they deemed appropriate to their backgrounds and education levels. As a result, they have been searching about, looking for a lifestyle that can find economic and social traction in this overly competitive society. Eventually, many of these young people, especially as they reach age 30, realize their old dreams need to be replaced with new ones And as part of the overall experience, many adopt ‘alterative culture’ appearances, including hairstyles and tattoos, often mistaken to be punk by foreigners. I find irony in the below suggestion that the Korean malaise is largely caused by foreign and macroeconomic forces. Certainly the below-mentioned factors are relevant. But even if they were removed, the basic problem will remain. South Korea has and will continue to have a too large a population of highly educated young people unable to find suitable employment given the size of the economy and the over dominance of the chaebol in providing an iadequate number of meaningful careers within South Korea.



The long-term ramifications are unclear. But historically, in other nations, all of this could be the foundation for signfiicant unrest and possibly rebellion. The safety valve is, and will continue to be, emigration. What 'Korean Miracle'? 'Hell Joseon' Is More Like It As Economy Flounders Don Kirk

Forbes Asia

Feb. 27, 2016 http://www.forbes.com/sites/donaldkirk/2016/02/27/what-korean-miracle-hell-joseon-is-more-like-it-as-economy-flounders/#73f252a93c4f Pessimism pervades the Korean economy, from financial to shopping markets, from homes to work places, as China’s economic woes, declining exports and low job prospects gnaw into the fabric of the “Korean Miracle.” Nowadays, on the streets of Seoul, in coffee shops, on the Internet, you’re likely to find more people complaining about “Hell Joseon” – Korea’s historical name when the Yi or Joseon dynasty held sway for more than 500 years – than talking up the wonders of economic success. As “Hell Joseon” gains currency, you hardly hear the term “Korean Miracle” in a milieu

of glittering shopping centers, skyscrapers, expressways, superfast trains and all the hi-tek gadgets and gizmos of an advanced society. That’s just window-dressing and superficial appearances, says Paik Sang-eun, tutoring students preparing for the critical national examination that will determine what level college they attend – and whether they have a prayer of finding work at a prestigious company or, for that matter, any company. “I got laid off my job in downsizing,” she says. “Nobody hires middle-aged people. Young people can’t find jobs. Old people are living in poverty.” The problem is reaching near-crisis proportions while President Park Geun-Hye calls for “a second miracle on the Han River” – the broad, twisting waterway that bisects Seoul. “The growth rate has not been as large as expected,” Yoo Il-Ho, deputy prime minister and minister of strategy and finance, admitted at a briefing that I attended. “Young people have experienced dissatisfaction.” While the government “has the major policy goal of creating jobs,” he said, “today we are no longer experiencing growth as in the past.” Yoo, whose long title translates as finance minister, still predicted, “Korea will be back on track to achieve 3.1% growth this year” – a rate “higher than those of many other major economies:” What’s happening – and what’s likely? Yoo blames much of the trouble on China, by far Korea’s largest market. “The financial market instability in major economies amid slowdowns in China and other emerging economies has brought a high level of uncertainty to the global economy,” he acknowledged. No, he said, in understatement, “The economy has not fully picked up momentum” – “China’s economic slowdown and low oil prices are adversely affecting Korea’s exports.” One of the most disturbing statistics of late was that exports, on which the Korean “miracle” relies, dropped 18.8% year-on-year in January, raising fears that Korea may be in for a slump reminiscent of the 1997-1998 economic crisis. But why would the precipitous drop in the price of crude have such an impact on exports from Korea, which has to import all its oil? As Lee Keun-Tae, economist at the LG Economic Research Institute, explained to Yonhap, the Korean news agency, ”Falling crude prices are a big drag on emerging economies, which will inevitably hurt South Korean exports.” With exporters in “acute fiscal crises,” said Yonhap, orders from the Middle East for construction, shipbuilding and other industrial products plummeted last year to $14.7 billion, down 52% from 2014 and the lowest since 2006. Talking to heads of state agencies, Finance Minister Yoo said “exports have been in the doldrums due to fast-falling oil prices, Chinese financial turmoil and Japan’s negative interest rate.” Korea’s corporate sector, powered by the mighty chaebol or conglomerates that control the economy, is “losing corporate competitiveness,” Yonhap news quoted him as saying, amid “low growth in the world economy.” Even if the economy is not doing nearly so badly as in the dark days of late 1997 and early 1998, Koreans carry bitter memories of what came to be known as “the IMF crisis” – a reference to the country’s going to the International Monetary Fund to bail out the economy. The IMF at the time issued strict guidelines on credit for debt-ridden chaebol, stopping them from borrowing freely from overly friendly banks with no real collateral to back up the loans. A poll conducted by Chosun Ilbo shows that a majority of Koreans – 58.6% — believe conditions are as bad now as they were then. Women – “more sensitive to fluctuation in household finances,” according to Chosun Ilbo — were more negative than men, 60.1% as opposed to 57%. That’s not too surprising considering that Korean women, often held back professionally, tend to take charge at home – and household debt led by mortgages, the paper reported from the Bank of Korea, exceeds 1.2 trillion won, about $965 million, up 11.4% from 2014. Young people are the most pessimistic – 72.7% of those in their 20’s believe the country is approaching a crisis. One student told me that many in the graduating class of his college, embarrassed by their failure to find jobs, don’t attend graduation ceremonies. Most postpone marriages until they’re at least 30, he said, while almost everyone he knows wants to go overseas for work or study – anything to get out of “Hell Joseon.” The saddest aspects of Korea’s economic malaise is a high suicide rate – highest among the 34 members of the Organization of Economic Development. Suicide ranks as the top cause of death among those aged 10 to 39. At the other end of the scale, suicides are highest among those 65 and older in a society in which children are less likely to care for their aging parents than in the days of yore. While the air slowly leaks out of the Korean economic balloon, the dollar keeps gaining in value against the won. The dollar, valued at about 1,100 Korean won in January 2015, has soared since then to 1,245 won. That should be good for exports – but not for typical Koreans paying ever higher prices on local markets. As elsewhere, the sense is that the rich are getting richer while ordinary people are squeezed relentlessly. “South Koreans continues to suffer from small injustices that reflect the existence of two realities here,” wrote Koo Se-woong in “Korea Exposé,” a critical website that he edits. One is “available only to those from the right backgrounds and another that is experienced by everyone else.” To read more of Don Kirk's commentaries on Asia news, click on www.donaldkirk.com, and the details of his books are available here.

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