Most Koreans see poverty as matter of discipline, not predetermined
Public attitudes in Korea toward poverty remain sharply divided, with a majority of respondents attributing hardship to a lack of individual effort, while low-income families point instead to structural barriers that keep them at the margins, according to a survey released Tuesday. The 2025 Korean Welfare Panel Study, conducted jointly by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs and the Seoul National University Social Welfare Research Institute, found that 89.6 percent of 2,661 respondents cited insufficient motivation and effort as the main cause of poverty. Nearly nine out of 10 respondents, or 88.3 percent, pointed to a lack of frugality or poor household financial management, suggesting that for a majority of Koreans, economic hardship is still seen largely as a matter of personal responsibility and discipline. Because the survey allowed participants to weigh multiple contributing factors independently, the total percentages exceed 100 percent. In contrast, only 62.8 percent blamed inborn ability or talent, and just 12 percent viewed it as a “very important” factor, ind
