Why young people seeking to leave?
Visitors survey booths at the Korea Study Abroad and Emigration Fair at the COEX, southern Seoul, on Oct. 3-4. / Yonhap
Experts advise careful approach toward emigration preparation
By Chung Ah-young
A 27-year-old woman, surnamed Lee, recently decided to emigrate to Australia or to the United States. She is not sure where she is going, but she is sure about leaving Korea.
Lee has been preparing herself for a year because she doesn’t want to live the rest of her life in her native country.
“It was the Sewol ferry disaster that made me think about leaving because I was not sure that I could be protected by my country,” she said.
The Sewol ferry sank on April 16 of last year, leaving 304 people dead, including nine whose bodies have not been recovered. Most of the victims were young students at Danwon High School who were on a school trip to the southern resort island of Jeju. The government has been criticized for the nation’s poor safety standards and mismanagement of the rescue operation.
“Since immediately after the incident, I have been instinctively thinking about emigration every day. Korea has no future,” she said.
Lee recently reaffirmed her resolution following a series of what she sees as the government’s disappointing policies, including support for a state-authored history textbook and unfavorable unemployment measures for youths.
“Because I Hate Korea,” a novel written by Jang Gang-myung, has been popular among young people as it reflects the harsh reality of the social conditions facing young Koreans, such as the high youth unemployment rate. / Courtesy of Mineumsa
“Whenever I see the news, I cannot draw a better picture for myself in the future. I don’t think I can lead a decent life here. I just want to leave,” she said.
There are many reasons for her frustration. She majored in art and design at university, but she now works at a small firm which is not related to her field.
“I am just earning money rather than realizing my dream. In this country, particularly in art and design, working conditions are very poor,” she said.
Lee is one of thousands of people who visited the Korea Study Abroad and Emigration Fair during Oct. 3-4 at the COEX, southern Seoul. The fair attracted unprecedented visitors, particularly those in their 20s.
Lee criticized the government’s policy which just makes jobseekers vulnerable to severe competition, ignoring their diversity of talents.
According to Statistics Korea, some 410,000 young Koreans in their 20s were not in school and out of work as of June of this year. The nation’s youth unemployment rate was the highest it’s been since 2000.
However, the government has only come up with short-sighted labor policies for the country’s younger population, which only worsens the limited job security for contract workers.
Some 34 percent of Koreans aged 15-29 began working as contract workers according to a recent statistic. Among them, 19.6 percent end up working for less than a year.
“It’s a vicious circle. It’s hard to land a job. It takes time. After struggling with finding a job, I am getting older, and the companies prefer younger applicants,” she said.
Jung Su-bin, an official of Coryo Emigration Corp., said that recently a growing number of young people in their 20s have shown interest in emigration.
“Compared to previous years, many young people have consulted with us, asking about the conditions of emigration. Most of them consider emigration after landing a job there,” she said.
Some people are organizing a kind of club, or “gye,” whose members chip in a modest amount of money and take turns in receiving a lump sum share to realize their emigration dreams.
‘Because I hate Korea’
Lee’s state of mind is reminiscent of a protagonist named Gyena in a popular novel, “Because I Hate Korea,” written by Jang Gang-myung.
The novel revolves around a 20-something woman who moves to Australia after being disillusioned by the dismal future in her homeland. She quits her job and reveals why she gives up the pursuit of her dreams in her country.
She recounts that she has felt as if she was inferior to others judged by educational backgrounds, financial abilities and appearance. She chooses adventures through emigration to pursue her happiness.
The story has been creating a buzz among young readers, topping the best-seller list at local booksellers as it draws empathy from young people who have struggled with similar issues.
The popularity of the novel reflects the feelings of many young people in the nation, linking to “Hell Joseon,” a popular neologism that has gone viral online.
Hell Joseon refers to the Korea associated with Joseon, the former dynasty that existed from 1392 to 1910. The term is indicative of the loathing and hopeless situations that young people face in Korea.
Worse, young people don’t stop complaining about their situations and instead take action by seeking opportunities to leave the country.
According to a survey by Trend Monitor, a private research firm, 72.8 percent of the respondents in their 20s and 74.4 percent in their 30s say they have thought about emigration. Half of them in both age groups answered that they don’t think Korea will have a bright future.
A recent survey conducted by Macromillembrain, the online research agency, also shows that 57.9 percent of those who responded said that they would not want to be born in Korea again if they were given the choice. Even more of them in their 20s, 62.8 percent, felt that way.
Careful approach
But it doesn’t always come to a happy ending, even if young people settle in other countries looking for greener pastures.
A 35-year-old man who lived for a couple of years in Australia recently returned to Korea after failing to land a stable job there.
“I had moved to Australia a few years ago because my fiancee worked there. I am a computer engineer, but I jumped from this job to another which was not related to my field,” he said.
Then, he decided to come back to Korea with his now-wife. “I didn’t regret my decision, but I lost career experience during that period and also I spent all the money I saved,” he said.
According to the emigration consultant agencies, a growing number of young people are seeking working holiday programs dreaming of ultimately settling down elsewhere.
However, most of them have ended up working at manual labor under unfavorable working conditions.
According to the survey by the Justice Party, 58 out of 100 respondents said they experienced unfair labor practices such as losing wages, broken contracts, violence and sexual harassment during their working holiday programs in Australia.
“For successful emigration, people should have some financial and language abilities. But it’s hard for young people in their 20s to meet these conditions,” Jung said.