How to keep Koreans busy

By Ranjit Kumar Dhawan

Governments all over the world since historical times devise strategies to keep people busy and divert their attention from the important issues of life. If people turned against the government then this would have led to chaos and the ruling elite would lose control over the masses. As a result, various techniques of social control are used by all kinds of regimes ― authoritarian, democratic, communist, militaristic or theocratic.

One of the most potent means to keep people busy is through the religious doctrines. Therefore, Karl Marx regarded religion as the “opium of the masses.” In the modern period, nationalism became an important tool to keep people busy and loyal to the ruling elite. As a result, throughout the history of the world people have died and are still dying over issues related to religion and nationalism.

In Korea too, various regimes in the country formulated ways to keep the masses busy and divert their attention from important issues. In the pre-modern Korea the rulers of the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910) found Confucianism as a useful ideology to maintain social order and prevent any challenge to the ruling elite from the masses by keeping them busy with various norms and rituals. Therefore, the Joseon Kingdom was one of the longest dynasties of the world.

Later the Japanese colonial regime in Korea (1910-45) kept people busy by putting high taxes on them and implementing the policy of cultural assimilation. The Japanese also promoted the idea of a “Co-Prosperity Sphere” to justify colonization as a benevolent act of bringing modernity to the “lazy” Koreans and make them busy.

In the post-colonial era Korea witnessed a long period of authoritarian regimes which used various methods to keep Koreans busy and prevent any democratic uprising. The ideology of nationalism and anti-communism was used by the Park Chung-hee regime (1961-79) to make people work day and night. The culture of “palli-palli” was encouraged so that Korea could “catch-up” with the developed countries within a few decades. Similarly, during the regime of Chun Doo-hwan (1980-88) sex, sports and the cinema were promoted to distract people’s attention and keep them busy.

After the transition to democracy in the late 1980s, democratic governments showed the dreams of egalitarian development and a “mass-participatory economy.” But in reality income disparities widened and the suicide rate increased in Korea. The “people’s government” of Kim Dae-jung (1998-2003) gave more “welfare” to the chaebol than to the people. The declining job opportunities keep many young people busy as they have to do multiple tasks to earn a livelihood.

Education fever in Korea also keeps children busy with their school and private coaching classes to enter into a few elite universities. The aging population and Korea’s low expenditure on welfare keep many old people busy as they have to do various jobs for survival. Korea also has some of the longest working hours in the world. The declining birthrate reflects that Koreans get less time to marry and have children.

However, in recent years ― in the milieu of rising socio-economic problems ― Koreans are coming out in large numbers on the streets to protest against corruption and nepotism in the country. This led to the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye (2013-17). Later in June 2017 Korean protestors dangerously encircled the U.S. Embassy in Seoul.

Therefore, to keep Koreans busy the government needs to formulate strategies to create more employment opportunities for young adults and control rising socio-economic problems in the country.

The author is assistant professor at the Department of East Asian Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Delhi, India. His e-mail address is rkdhawan13@hotmail.com