South Korea’s president has promised to create more jobs, boost workers’ pay and help the poor.
It comes as a new study reveals young people in the country are feeling increasingly pessimistic about the future as the economy worsens.
Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride reports from Seoul.
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21 century is for Survival of the wisest not the fittest
no the most priveleged
@hamzah khawaja the strongest economically and socially will strives!
For decades, people in power have told us on this side of the Pacific to emulate the East Asian countries, to adopt their work ethic and business culture.
Slowly, but surely it seems that people are waking up to a starkly different reality. Inequality is rising, and many people are growing lonely and hopeless in life.
Something is certainly not quite right with the notion of ‘hard work’, and meritocracy sold to millennials and Gen Zs by the establishment.
Its a trick meant for the unregulated corporate world. Work, study hard, and take out more loans until management tosses people aside for the next batch of young workers
When has there ever been equality in this world?
Just like in America. Go to school work and work hard you will be successful- not true anymore.
@Kirk Wilson you sound very hurt and angry. Were you abused as a child? You should seek therapy.
@Kirk Wilson Also, I find that your conclusion is very nonsensical and broad based off two videos on YouTube. One being a test video and the other being video game clip
@Justin Hearst Educated response, point proven! CHECK MATE! Remember to sub to Ben Shapiro.
@Kirk Wilson Thanks, I guess?
Still very true. Just dont study something dumb and easy. Study something marketable like STEM
Yes just like Qatar.
Everyone is rich there
Qatar gdp per capita: 70k $
India gdp per capita: 2k $
LAMO
Nope
You lie
Here in America same boat.
@Inayet Hadi
You cut and paste the same comment here too? You’re a joke pal.
Trump will disagree with you. America is the best.
Kian Khiong Ng nope America is just like South Korea and many other Democracies (Republics) notice how the most successful democracies ARE NOT REPUBLICS!!!!!
Just like everywhere else. Time to build the guillotine.
@Inayet Hadi No Hadi, the problem is global finance is being consolidated in the hands of an ever smaller group of people and those people want to lower the population. Those people have names, addresses and families. No amount of hard work is going to free up the wealth that has been consolidated and stolen through inflation and money lending at usurious rates.
@Bad Man Skill you don’t know my situation, and when I do become homeless which might be very near the only person to blame is me and me alone. However I am trying to learn and get better at offering a service that others are willingly to pay for.
However that still does not give me any right to demand other people’s wealth because I fail to produce the same.
You have the mentality of the devil who feeds on envy, be content with what ever your situation. If not content then make it better. Point is don’t blame others blame yourself
@Bad Man Skill thanks for the advice, I’ll be sure to make my own chop sticks from a branch from a tree, but how do I suck it? I’d appreciate you teaching me skills how to do that because you never should pass a good opportunity to learn
there are plenty of things to enjoy in south korea even if youre in lower class. the food, the entertainment, the music, many other acitivities
@Inayet Hadi Inflation is a regressive tax that acts as a wealth transfer mechanism that goes from poor to rich. Maybe consider starting a garden and selling fruits and vegetables to locals. You can avoid taxes with cash transactions and you can pass the Inflation tax onto the buyers instead of taking the hit yourself (this is key). After you get your first garden going and get some clientele built up, you can start finding friends and family that have yards you can start new gardens in. You can offer them fruits and vegetables as payment for using their yard as a garden. Once you have any extra income, buy silver. Silver is a good store of value and is going to go up in demand in the coming years. I agree with you, theft is wrong and I wish you good luck.
the man: I don’t have money
me looking at the MacBook Pro, monitor, and the furniture
you should explain that this man doesn’t have money and felt poor compare to other Koreans. the gap is fine as long the riches is paid their tax and the government give social net to the poor.
Arief Rahadian the man with the laptop and computer was a writer that studies the lowest class, he wasn’t saying he was part of it
I used to believe if you did what you were supposed to (studied worked hard got your diploma/degree) success would follow. As I’ve gotten older I’ve learned that is not true at all. There are just somethings you will never be able to achieve no matter how hard you try for various reasons ” unless you come a cross a little bit of luck”. It’s the reason I live rent free and pretty much own 2 houses that I in no way worked for nor really deserve.
Study is really important
But work for company not make you rich
Just make CEO more richer
In my country minister just her education in elementary school
She after out of school she sell fish and now she own an airline , huge company , have few private jet And many house
My neighbour never have school but she have really huge rice field house 3 floor , a car , 4 motorcycle , and many thing
If you degree please dont waste your degree working make someone richer
You need work hard and smart for your own bussines
Even some lady have master degree but she chose sell delicious tofu her store always busy
Because good marketing and the tofu really delicious
Welcome to the club, kiddos!
I am considered just above poverty line with my income in the place that I live and soon to be homeless if I cannot find another means of income, but what right does that give me to take someone’s else’s wealth that they figured how to make or was inherited?
The problem is not that people are wealthy the problem are the poor people who have not figured out how to generate income and or produce a service or product that other people are freely willing to buy.
Stop this BS of wealth gap, if the leftists and unionists want to help the poor help them how to become wealthy not steal from the wealthy.
@Inayet Hadi Effing edjeet.
Thank God Soju still affordable..
😂😂😂
Of course, that way the gov won’t have to deal with homeless elders in the future, most will die by liver cancer and liver failure…
Working and studying hard will get you nowhere but only make you work to maintain the lifestyle of the rich.
Young South Koreans need a little communist flame. They should overthrow the South Korean government and then follow Uncle Kim Jong Un. There will be no wealth gap after Korea is reunified. ^_^
In your dreams..
None of South Korean people want reunification and if you’d have said that in South Korea you might have got bullied or even arrested…
Why call them “dirt-spoons” though? Such language is how a revolution starts, a churn which cannot be reversed.
@Inayet Hadi : I’m not talking about the philosophy of slave capitalism, but wondering why the people of SK use the label dirt-spoon” to describe some of Their citizens?
@Dalem Silas you’re right, no person is better or worse for the amount of wealth they have or don’t.
What I have an issue with is people feel like it is their right to steal from individuals who either have inherited or created wealth by offering a product or service.
@Inayet Hadi
You offer nothing but cutting and pasting the same comment over and over again. Come up with something new.
basically it’s gold spoon (금수저), silver spoon (은수저) and spoon made with dirt or mud (흙수저). gold spoons are the elite 1%. it derives from the whole concept of the rich class being fed with silver spoons. you can argue that it is unnecessary but imo it’s inevitable. people give names and labels to certain phenomena.
I guess it would be the western world’s equivalent of ‘lower class’ to assign social status to certain groups.
Useless youth
With the meagre salaries these days, no one can afford to have an own home. Salaries are spent on fulfilling basic needs.
In my country, you work hard, get a first class in the university and then go out to compete with people with lower qualifications than you and foreigners who are in the country illegally.
Just because they are willing to take a low salary.
I am considered just above poverty line with my income in the place that I live and soon to be homeless if I cannot find another means of income, but what right does that give me to take someone’s else’s wealth that they figured how to make or was inherited?
The problem is not that people are wealthy the problem are the poor people who have not figured out how to generate income and or produce a service or product that other people are freely willing to buy.
Stop this BS of wealth gap, if the leftists and unionists want to help the poor help them how to become wealthy not steal from the wealthy
What right do the wealthy have to exploit those with less means in society due to luck? People don’t choose the circumstances of their birth, their genetics, what country they are born in, what systems they are born in, etc. We all collectively create and allow the systems that exist in society to exist. Those systems enable the wealthy to be wealthy and stay wealthy. If those systems and how we set things up enable inequality to grow such that people have minimal chance to improve their situation and we basically have indentured servitude and serfdom then democratically people need to use their power to change the systems they live in. Society isn’t meant to stagnate and never change. Society is a collective process we all participate in and like life the only constant is change.
@Christopher Desrochers exactly don’t become stagnant, learn and become wealthier by offering a service or product to people/companies that will make them better off and in return make you better off.
Inayet Hadi My comment went right over your head eh? Lots of one’s lot in life is due to luck and things beyond one’s control. We exist in something called society, which we all collectively create and change together. If said society and systems fail to ensure better lives for the majority it is only a matter of time before change happens.
its the left thing to keep wealth gap and pareto in check. if inequality gap so huge, criminal rate increase and poor peasants will bring pitchforks 😄
Christopher Desrochers the real problem is people blame everything and everyone but themselves, playing the victim card will not change your fortunes. If you’re born in a 1st world country you already won the lottery. Go create your own luck and change your life if you’re not happy with what you have. If your company is exploiting you go work somewhere else or start your own business no one is forcing anyone to stay. Never in history there has been so many opportunities and people turning from rags to riches but you got to work for it, doesn’t come free. Lose the entitlement.
Unions, socialist, communists are the tools of the devil.
Solution to being rich and wealthy is offer a service or product to people and or companies (public or private) that will make them better off and in return make you better off.
Philippines welcomes South Koreans with open arms.
That’s what happens when you follow the RIDICULOUS format of the US🙄🙄🙄 It’s like seeing someone accidentally cut their own finger off and thinking that’s how things are done🤨🤨🤨
Protest protest….we need more protest around the world
Capitalism at it’s finest, where the rich become richer.
Raine Riny 7 it’s called crony capitalism. Gets your facts right
efficient capitalism where everyone needs are met and most people are comfortable is much better.
@MIAPBALLER if you mean by *crony* is the elites its called feudalism, which is true. i recommend watch a video ” the fall of capitalism and rise of narcissm” an interesting view of an economist 🍺
@Raine Riny 7 everyone expecting *trickle* *down* *effect* , but the rich dont want to gives back to community 😃
Wait, I was sure it was called *zombie capitalism* because it feeds on the dead dreams and aspirations of the average people…
Capitalism 👌
Incease pocket money.
Communism is a good alternative for South Korea.
🇰🇵🇰🇵🇰🇵🇰🇵🇰🇵🇰🇵🇰🇵🇰🇵
Welcome to the IMF system
The President has promised… Yes, they do that a lot!
When the whole globe doesn’t understand that there’s a difference between owning a company and studying to work for a company !
Yup
Sometime i dont want work for company , they pay me with really cheap
Cheff in my place said , i should come to cooking class or pastry class
Thats training give me better future
I want work for my self like open store or small restaurant
Its better
@claudia V true, owning your own bussines is much better and there a higher possibilities to make more then they pay you. I won’t say becoming a owner is something easy but it is better.
Same thing in India.
Top 1% own 73% of the India’s wealth. Revolution!
Yeah..start a revolution and in a few decades, it would repeat itselt again. Have u read *ANIMAL FARM* ?
Mukesh Ambani lives in a skyscraper while at the same time there are slums in Mumbai.
Top 0.1 holds more than 70% of world’s wealth.
Capitalism level infinity
@claudia V Maybe because they deserve low salary?
@Last First yes maybe ? that’s a question not a statement.
Korea is one messed up society. It has very high suicide rates as well.
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the best Korea.
Income inequality is making the rich richer and poor poorer.
Capitalism reeking havoc on the world
South Korea’s cast system
You Sung-Ho is gangnam style
Korea is wealthy enough to implement a universal basic income.
Korean are racist
2:22 you can say that again
Don’t have kids idiots.
Plastic surgery
That’s life deal with it, Kidz
This day and age offers a lot of gig economies. You can drive uber or do uber eats and earn extra income. It is relatively easy to invest in stocks and watch your wealth grow. Education is simple as well. Anyone who studies hard can obtain an MD or Doctorate. The video needs to mention this.
Uber and uber eats are not sustainable forms of employment. When all is said and done, most people using those programs get paid less than $5 an hour. The stock market is rigged, and even when its not, wealth such as you speak of is a long term plan- but people need money now. And lastly, everybody can study to be a doctor, but not everybody can become a doctor. Society is a clock filled with many cogs that all serve a purpose and the removal of one of those clogs results in the
Well actually this is a problem especially for the youth and younger generation.
It’s not only South Korea is facing this problem and it happens to everywhere as well.
There must be some support to build up positive life.
Another bunch of entitlement youth. These are young people trying to blame their lot in life on others. Life is not fair, the sooner you learn that the more driven you will become to change. Try telling a handicapped person your problems and see how much sympathy you get. Jesus said “pick up your cross”.
They still look pretty well off though. With everything they have at their disposal, they’d be considered upper middle or even upper class in my country. I mean, what kind of poor can own all the cool gadgets like that?
They have major ‘1st world problems’. E.g. slow internet speed
@a1 1 thats not it. They have the basics and to somebody from a third world country, they might seem to have a lot, but in order to have those things, they often times have to work even harder than the third worlders. Working so hard, they barely get to enjoy the things they own
@MsDragonbal776 they ‘barely have time to enjoy’ is a classical first world issue, stated by a person who has never lived in the 3rd world
A lot of people spend up to their limit on their credit card and majority don’t pay it back, they just their new credit cards. They really living by the word ‘YOLO’. It’s kinda common in Asia. So materialistic.
Links and social class, black People have been telling the world that a long time
Please shut up
kim jong is therre for ur rescue
And they would be right. Seems to have been this way for a very long time. Hope only goes so far.
Happening everywhere. Been happening since the dawn of time e.g. humans own 100% of the planet right? Just now automation made it more noticeable.
No. It hasnt been happening since the dawn of time. Societies were largely agrarian which offered some sense of independence
They are fools. They are missing the ‘connections’ part of the college degree. Degree plus not knowing the right people = Mcdonalds. Anybody can take a few classes. They’re worthless. Now they demand 5 years experience up front now instead of a degree. Impossible unless you know someone.
You call them fools but clearly cant see the fallacy of your logic. Such a system of making “connections” is clearly unsustainable plus it puts then in a position to be abused by people who want to abuse their “gatekeeper” status. Try to think more seriously next time before you put people down. It makes you look uneducated
Lots of nepotism now and not enough positions.
Literally dommer
*Doomer everywhere*
Sounds exactly like the USA even before the coronavirus.
You mean sounds like in most places on this earth?
England, USA and the rest of the world
@TrollinOn22s TrollinOn22s Pretty much
This is the same world wide. It has always been this way and as long as there is money it will always be. Just a fact.
same here too
Aaaahhh… Capitalism and social class.
The rich needs the poor to work for them. That is why the poor remains poor, regardless.
Even if we kill them off, the cycle will just continue and repeat itself.
US, Spain, American blacks, Chinese, Japanese: First time?
India: Hold my beer
The economic system should be controlled by AI, and it can regulate itself when the gap is wider . . . Soon 🤞
That would be nice.
There should be no billionaires. I hate capitalism. You can still have private business while income is shared. Look up social entrepreneurship.
profit fuels innovation, that is exactly why capitalism despite its numerous disadvantages will not go away for a long time
@Hans You can still have innovation without billionaires.
nothing new.
If that was here in America they would call them delusional. This place doesn’t seem to notice anyone else has problems but it’s on.
The problem here in Korea is that nearly everyone has a higher degree and competes for the same job market in a major corporation or decides to become a bureaucrat for job security. Combine this with always wanting to “keep up with the Jones”-of course its going to be stressful situation.
I am not saying that we dont have a wealth gap, but I think we need re-evaluate our sense of happines both personally and professionally and settle what fits us best.
No one in Korea is going hungry or dying from sickness like in the U.S. and most people can get housing in Korea if theybare willing to downsize and live outside of Seoul. Or you can move to another countryband try your luck there but that has its own set of risks.
I think the biggest misconception thst Koreans have of Captilaism and Democracy isnthat the former is Darwinian system and the latter onlu guarantees you equal opportunity, not equal results
Clarify me. I create a product. You buy it. You buy it again. You keep buying it. You fed yourself up when my bank account gets bigger. What did i miss?
Kids listen. Grow up and get rich. Now, back to work.
Just like the US.
Korea is changing!!! We have good president now who is trying to fix the mess of previous presidents of the last 70 years. Wait few more years and you ll see how Korea sets an example for the world!
It won’t be that easy. At my country we are struggling too to clear the past 65 years mess. So much of corruptions and embezzlement’s. Even if a person tries, the rest try to bring him down because then all their corruptions will come to light.
Make a stronger economy that brings more competition between employers. This causes them to pay more for labor to attract them. Weak economy means employees are fighting over jobs so why would employers pay more?
Im proud being born a filipino….and also my parent teach us the value of simple thing, simple living and the most important things is GOD FIRST BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE..
I’d still live in s.korea. virtually no violence, safe, clean first world country
as a song in the Philippines said “habang may tatsulok lahat sila ang nasa tuktok di matatapos ang gulo”.
The rich become richer and the poor become poorer. This covid outbreak has highlighted the inequities of the society , country and the world .
Its all bcoz of the cultural norms in 🇰🇷
Everyone is fed up with wealth gap…but i’m thinking what’s your attention Al Jazeera are you trying to hype of the Public for the Good or the Bad?
What kind of poor person has MacBook Pro?……….still point taken!
Brazil says hold my beer
I can see that you are just copying and pasting the issues discussed in Korean media. But this is no different from other countries with an exception of North Korea where majority of the population equally share the poverty.
says something about our great world government system yes?
Stop using Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, Google. Stop using banks. Stop using Oil. Stop using healthcare.
You’re addiction to all the above has created the billionaires.
This happen everywhere
The rich elites use the same tricks world over, buy politicians, get laws in their favor and suppress others. The financial system has become a robbery scheme, which makes some people soooo rich, they can buy anything, to make them even richer ever. We need a new kind of economy in which those that help the planet, nature and each other get richer, and the self enrichers lose money. But then this comment of one poor guy, can’t outweigh the whole media circus they run, can it?
is Parasite wasn’t a wake up call, idk what can be
Corporate greed is the primary reason for this issue.
More protesting and rioting coming soon to a continent you’re probably in!
In all of its glory, South Korea still has this social class system, and many youths today no longer believe that hard work can move them up the social ladder. The majority can only make ends meet and are unable to hold onto any any savings. That equilibrium is the works of a free capital market, and the lack of control puts power in the hands of the wealthy. There are no checks and measures on the free economy, only the government who answers to all people can help the average citizen. This is an issue not unique to North Korea, but I hope people can see how important it is for governments to enact policies to prevent monopolies and abuse. That’s why the wealthy constantly buyout lobbyists and special interests groups to prevent changes to the status quo.
If you know the game of money, once you cross certain amount you only keep getting richer, unless you blow everything up like many bankrupt artist.