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Preface
Because the Chinese did not know much about South Korea, they had the inherent impression that the handsome men and women after plastic surgery in the TV series and the inherent impression of developed countries.
However, is South Korea really a developed country? Are the Korean people really living happily?
Why do some people ridicule South Korea as a kimchi country? Today, let me show you what the real Korea is like.
South Korea's path to development
Speaking of which, when the country was first founded, the conditions in South Korea were indeed quite poor, and the whole country was beaten into a pot of porridge because of the Korean War.
In addition, the founding president of the People's Republic of China, Syngman Rhee, was also an out-and-out bastard, completely lacking the sense of responsibility and talent that a leader should have, not only being incompetent externally, but also exploiting the people internally!
At a critical moment, Park Chung-hee, a former Japanese military officer, staged an armed coup d'état, seized power, and became the leader of South Korea.
In 1960, when North Korea was happily well-off with the assistance of the Soviet Union and China, South Korea's GDP was less than $2 billion, or $79 per capita.
This still depends on the annual subsidy of 300 million US dollars from the United States, as well as a large amount of material aid, otherwise South Korea would have collapsed long ago!
There is nothing to say, economic reform is imperative!
As a person who has received a higher education in Japan, Park Chung-hee has made clear the development orientation of South Korea from the beginning, that is, to follow the example of Japan as a trading country and develop exports!
But how can trade be so easy? South Korea's foundation is too thin, so what can it compete with Japan?
Park Chung-hee's answer to this is to fully copy the Meiji Restoration, follow the example of Japan, and create several fist products with the strength of the whole country, that is, brands such as Samsung and Lotte that we are familiar with, so as to make Korean products famous in the world market first.
Not to mention that Park Chung-hee's approach was quite correct, at least at the time, because in 1962 South Korea's foreign trade turned from a deficit to a surplus, and in 1977 it succeeded in breaking through the export volume of $10 billion!
This is the so-called Han River Miracle.
However, while South Korea's economy is taking off, ordinary people are still in dire straits.
So much so that some people still commented on Park Chung-hee: He single-handedly created a people's nightmare for 30 years!
To be honest, some time ago in the development of poor countries, because the country had no money, the people would have to make some sacrifices.
But the problem is that the people are not really treated as tribute when the people are made to make sacrifices! The purpose of national development should be to benefit the people.
But the South Korean government never seems to have this concept, can you imagine?
During the administration of Park Chung-hee, he almost single-handedly made South Korea disappear on the road of gray industry development!
In order to be able to make money, Park Chung-hee vigorously developed the domestic gray industry, according to incomplete statistics, during the reign of Park Chung-hee, at least more than 1.2 million South Korean women became comfort women in the new era!
These poor women will not only have to serve the US military stationed in South Korea, but will also be wholesaled to all parts of the world by their own government, using their bodies and even their lives to earn foreign exchange for the government!
This is true for women, and men are no exception.
Park Chung-hee Han Jiang hundreds of thousands of Korean men either became puppet soldiers and accompanied the US military to fight the world, or they became low-cost laborers and went to various countries to work!
In the Vietnam War alone, more than 300,000 Korean men and 200,000 women appeared in Vietnam!
Well, at that time, South Korea was really poor, so it engaged in these unconventional methods, but in the 80s of the 20th century, after South Korea had developed?
Any idea why the 1988 Seoul Olympics is called the darkest and least mentioned edition?
Because Koreans not only blow the black whistle and cheat openly on the field, but even attack athletes from other countries, off the field, the operation of the Korean government is also true, shocking the world!
In order to prevent an obstacle, the government arrested all tens of thousands of homeless people near Seoul by force and forced them to perform overloaded unpaid labor, resulting in thousands of deaths!
Black, it's really black!
Of course, some people may say that these are old accounts of the past, and you can say that South Korea is not a developed country now, and the people in it are not happy.
So, how has South Korea developed in the past decade?
Fragile economy
Can you imagine?
South Korea, a so-called developed country with a per capita GDP of more than 30,000 US dollars, in 2018, more than 16% of the population was in poverty!
In addition, half of the elderly over 60 years old are elderly!
So why is that?
First of all, it is because the economy of South Korea, a developed country, is too fragile!
South Korea's main economic pillar is exports.
In 2018, more than 75% of South Korea's GDP came from foreign trade, which is not only much higher than China, but also higher than Japan.
More than 20% of South Korea's working population also depends on foreign trade for food, which makes South Korea's so-called economic prosperity very fragile.
If there is a stir in the world, it will immediately hit South Korea's economy hard.
The direct data is from the outbreak of the epidemic, due to the depression of the entire world trade, South Korea's foreign trade has been greatly reduced, followed by a wave of layoffs, as of 2021, the unemployment rate has exceeded 25%!
And in the midst of this wave, South Korea's suicide rate has also hit a new high.
In 2021, the number of suicides under the age of 50 has exceeded 13,000 just by statistics!
Because, in that year, more than 60% of Korean families were burdened with huge debts, and once they lost their jobs, it meant that the whole family would go hungry, and even the whole family would be swept out of the house by the landlord in the winter and live on the streets!
So some people may ask, South Korea has been developing for so many years, is there only one way to make a fortune through exports?
Of course there is, but what way? real estate!
The South Korea we see on TV is basically Seoul, but do you know what kind of monster Seoul is in Korea?
A city with an area of only about 605 square kilometers is home to nearly 20% of South Korea's population.
What would happen if more than 9.5 million people lived in it? Everyone should be able to imagine it? So, the real estate bubble arose.
Compared to China's real estate bubble, South Korea's real estate has reached the point of madness, can you imagine?
In 2020, housing prices in downtown Seoul were close to RMB 130,000!
As a result, rents are high, stress is high, and if there is a storm, the consequences can be devastating!
Since 2019, with the explosion of South Korea's real estate, more than 260 small and medium-sized enterprises have closed down in just three years, and another 2,500 have filed for bankruptcy protection!
Today, South Korea's national economic development has shown a state of negative growth.
Of course, even so, there may still be people who are hard-mouthed, and even if South Korea does have problems with its economic development now, its per capita GDP is still 30,000 US dollars!
Is that really the case?
Koreans who can only rely on instant noodles to feed themselves
In 2021, the United Nations issued an interesting statement that South Korea is likely to become the first country to disappear on its own within a century due to negative population growth.
In this regard, the South Korean government has also made great efforts, for example, Moon Jae-in has launched a series of preferential policies for childbirth that seem to be full of sincerity.
For example, pregnant women can get a pregnancy subsidy of about 34,000 yuan per month during pregnancy, and in the first three years after the child is born, the government will not only give the child a subsidy of about 2,800 yuan per month, but also reward mothers with a subsidy of about 17,000 yuan.
It seems that the government subsidy is quite interesting, but the South Korean people scoff at it without any waves.
So why is that?
Because the price of goods in Korea is so expensive!
Isn't it said that the per capita annual income of Koreans is 30,000 US dollars?
Okay, so let's calculate that each person gets 200,000 yuan per year, and see how the life of Koreans is?
Let's talk about housing costs first, in 2020, the average price of an apartment in Seoul, South Korea is about 63,000 yuan per square meter!
If calculated according to 60 square meters, a house is about 370,000 yuan.
It doesn't sound like a lot, but you can buy it in two years.
But is that really the case?
Do you know why Koreans are so keen on instant noodles? In 2022, the average Korean consumes 80 bags of instant noodles per year!
Because the prices in South Korea are ridiculously high, the following data are all in RMB, let's take a look at what Koreans can afford on the dining table, right?
In 2020, a kilogram of beef will start at 1,000 yuan, and this matter was once on the top of the hot search.
A kilogram of pork costs 160 yuan, a kilogram of eggs costs 42 yuan, a kilogram of rice costs 16 yuan, and Koreans' favorite cabbage starts at 60 yuan!
In addition, the cost of water and electricity in South Korea is ridiculously high. According to statistics, in 2022, every Korean in Seoul will spend as much as 5,000 yuan per month on water and electricity bills!
In addition, although South Korea's mobile phones are well-known all over the world, in South Korea, their phone bill packages are quite tricky, and the cheapest package starts at 300 yuan per month, and the traffic is also ridiculously expensive.
Now, let's do the math again, is the life of Koreans really good?