Week_5-3. South Korea is going through deep social, economic change

South Korea is going through deep social, economic change (The Economist Article)


Picture of Seoul in the past
Picture by Pixabay free image
(https://pixabay.com/images/id-3599499/)



Recently, director Bong Joon-ho's film "Parasite" has become a huge hit around the world. He even won an Oscar for a world-class film last February. It is a film that shows socioeconomic problems, including the gap between classes in Korea, but on the other hand, it is also evidence that Korean society has changed.

Just a month after Mr. Bong's Oscar win, South Korea is again in the spotlight around the world. Korea is known as the country that best dealt with the COVID-19 virus, and countless countries have asked South Korea to share its anti-virus strategy. 
The Economist article compared Korea's (and the President's) handling of COVID-19 in contrast to the 2014 Ferry Sewol incident. Compared with the terrible disaster caused by the wrong response at the time, the response to Korea's Pandemics is now being done very appropriately. 
The article was written on April 8 before the election and said the results of the parliamentary elections would show the public's response to "the President Moon's promise(to create a fair and just society)". In fact, the results of the parliamentary elections, which took effect on the 15th, show to be positive.

On the one hand, this article also points out the issue of gender discrimination in Korea, which is still maintained. A survey conducted in Seoul in 2018 showed that many of the young women have experienced violence by their partners, while another survey also showed that 70 percent of the women have experienced sexual harassment at work. Also, South Korea is one of the countries that has the lowest birth rates in the world, with the current per capita birthrate standing at 0.92 points. 

Now, there is a big change in Korean society, but and on the other hand, there is still a slow movement in some parts.



Written by Jaehoon Kim (김재훈)









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