South Korea is now a wagecuck's hell
http://archive.is/GhS7Q
TL;DR:
South Korea is glitzy to outsiders. But many young locals consider it a hell. You can't get into a good university unless you are born with a “golden spoon” in your mouth. So, others work long hours in low-paying jobs without benefits. They have nicknamed their nation "Hell Joseon". It is a reference to the "Joseon" dynasty during whose reign a feudal system determined who got ahead and who didn’t.
Hwang Min-joo is a 26-year-old writer for television shows. She goes to work on Monday morning and leaves Thursday night. She eats, showers, and sleeps in bunk beds at her office. Paychecks come irregularly. She saves money by living with her parents.
The economic boom of 60s and 70s is over. Only people working with megalithic corporations get status and good pay. South Korea also saw lots of job cuts during 2008. As a result, many people are in "irregular" jobs, with low pay and no benefits. 2/3rd of young people who got jobs last year, got irregular jobs. Even big companies are laying off people or demanding early retirement.
Many South Koreans are complaining online. There is a "Hell Joseon" Facebook group and a “Hell Korea” website. They post graphics illustrating how bad life is for young people: long work hours, high suicide rate and expensive food. Forums discuss ways to get out. Some apply to the US military as a way to get US citizenship. Some think that skilled wielders are in demand in Canada and US.
Novelist Jang Kang-myung’s “Because I Hate South Korea” was a bestseller, it is about a young women who migrants to Australia. Writer Son A-ram's piece titled “The Declaration of a Ruined State” has gone viral.
Lee Ga-hyeon, a 22-year-old law student, works part-time at McDonald’s and then at a bakery chain, while studying. He says that "part-time" means working full-time hours at the minimum wage. The rent in her tiny apartment is $450, half of her monthly income. She wants to become a labor lawyer to help others like her.
People with full-time jobs are not happy either because of 14-hour workdays. In 2012, a left-leaning presidential candidate ran on the slogan: “A life with evenings.” Song, a 34-year-old, had to switch jobs because he worked 8 AM to 1 AM. His wife quit her job to care for their baby girl. His boss keeps saying, ‘The company comes first; your family comes second.’
Their parents' generation, who worked for the "Korean Dream", think the answer is to work harder. Yeo Jung-hoon, 31, says her boss humiliated her but she can't quit, because she needs the money. Her parents think that she doesn't work hard enough. She runs the “Union of Unskilled Workers” Facebook group.