Irony of convenience

 

I recently came back to the United States after one year in Korea. What do I miss about Korea? There are so many things, but what hits home the most is the convenience of life. From public transportation to home delivery of foods and goods, Korea, especially the Seoul metropolitan area, is a very efficient, livable and convenient place.

I currently live in a New York suburb, and, like most places in the U.S., you have to drive to go anywhere. Yes, public transportation exists, but you will have to wait for a bus that only comes once in a while standing on a narrow and dangerous sidewalk. How do I miss the clean, frequently running and inexpensive subways and buses that connect every part of Seoul?

Sure, Amazon may deliver your stuff the next day with a steep fee, but it cannot beat the “quick service” of Korean motorcycle delivery riders who often deliver things within 30 minutes, at a fraction of the cost. Food delivery, ride share and just everything else is faster and more efficient in Korea.

Or think of visiting doctors. It is a nightmare in the U.S. From making an appointment to checking insurance coverage, you need meticulous planning and should remain alert. And the cost of health care in the U.S. is outrageous. Again, how do I miss the many available doctors on every street corner, quick check-in time and the simple and reasonably priced universal health insurance of Korea?

The government service in the U.S. is very slow. Most Americans I know have a horror story or two about their local Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) because of its slow, inefficient and often incompetent processing. Go to a Korean DMV, and you can get everything done within minutes. You can actually get a new license on the spot.

What I have just said may not be so much of the praise of Korea as an indictment of the slow and expensive U.S. system. Still, there is no denying that Koreans enjoy a lot of convenient and efficient social, commercial and government systems compared to other parts of the world.

I do not know how Korea was able to develop such an efficient and convenient infrastructure of life. But what I do know is that the infrastructure is absolutely needed in Korean daily life. Korea ranks among the top globally in terms of people’s average hours worked. An average Korean works 1,901 hours per year, 149 hours more than the OECD country average. That’s about one month of additional labor. The actual working hours of Koreans are probably a lot more if you consider the common but uncounted overtime work hours and work dinners and social gatherings workers need to frequently attend.

The Korean economy also has a high proportion of small business owners and freelancers, and these people typically work the longest hours in a very competitive environment. For many Korean workers who find little time to take care of themselves, a fast and convenient life service is mandatory. During and after heavy working hours, you don’t find the time to shop and cook; therefore, quick food delivery is a must. If you get sick or injured, you need immediate treatment so that you won’t lag behind in your competitive job.

It should also be mentioned that Korea ranks high globally in terms of single-person households. Close to 40 percent of the Korean population lives alone, according to the Korean government. And most of these single-person households are either very young or old in terms of age. If you are a 20-something or 70-year-old living alone, you are less likely to own a car and drive to Costco to buy things in bulk. You just order home delivery, or you just go down to a ubiquitous convenience store and buy goods ready-made for a single person household. In other words, the atomized population structure of Korea also makes it necessary to have quick and efficient social support and infrastructure.

So, here is an irony: the super convenient social life of Korea is a mirror image of the country’s arduous and competitive working and living environments. I miss Korea’s convenient life but at the same time do not miss its busy and competitive work life.

Min Seong-jae (smin@pace.edu) is a professor of communication and media studies at Pace University in New York. He was a 2023–24 Fulbright U.S. Scholar to Korea.