Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the largest opposition party, was attacked, and the myth of South Korea is no longer there, will Asia's second largest developed country be torn to pieces?
Recently, the news that Lee Jae-myung was attacked while attending an event in Busan has attracted widespread attention, and the 65-year-old suspect claimed that he had "murderous intent" in his confession.
Whether the attack involved some kind of political conspiracy is yet to be investigated, but in any case, this is not a simple criminal case and has very deep roots.
In August and September 1948, the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea were established on the Korean Peninsula along the 38th parallel.
Since the 60s of the 20th century, South Korea in the south has implemented an export-led strategy, created the "Han River Miracle", and its economy has continued to grow rapidly, and it was once known as the "Asian Tigers" along with Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, and it took only eight years to transform from a middle-income country to a developed country, and even successfully ranked among the top ten in the world in terms of GDP in 2020.
In recent years, however, there have been unprecedented challenges. As we all know, automobiles, shipbuilding, and semiconductors have always been the pillar industries of South Korea, and now life is getting more and more difficult.
Chinese mainland rose to become the world's major shipbuilding power a few years ago, snatching a large number of international orders, and beating Japan to become the largest auto exporter in the past year, while the technological progress and capacity expansion in the semiconductor field in Taiwan and other regions have also put great pressure on Samsung, Hynix, and LG.
Since the fourth quarter of 2022, South Korea's economic growth momentum has completely stalled, consumption has been significantly weak, and GDP has fallen out of the top 10 in the world.
As we enter 2023, South Korea's economy is in unprecedented predicament, with a series of stimulus measures, such as emergency subsidies, interest rate cuts, and fiscal spending, but the effect is limited.
According to the country's central bank estimates, private consumption grew by only 2.7 percent.
Due to sluggish chip demand and global economic uncertainty, South Korea's annual exports were about $632.6 billion, down 7.4% year-on-year, with a deficit of $9.97 billion.
The official blame for the global monetary austerity is, in fact, far more serious than that.
Last year, South Korea was considered one of the countries with the most aging population in the world, with 16.7 percent of the total population over the age of 65, exceeding the aging standard of 14.9 percent.
This will lead to a series of problems such as labor shortages, increased social security burdens, and weakening consumer demand, further limiting the long-term growth potential of the South Korean economy. Some South Korean think tanks pessimistically predict that there could be zero or even negative growth by around 2050.
Of course, what is even worse is that South Korea has been controlled by several major chaebols for a long time, and the social polarization is beyond imagination, and the gap between the rich and the poor is very large, higher than that of developed countries such as the United States, Japan, and Germany.
As of December 31, 2022, there are 23.71 million households in South Korea, of which 9.72 million are single-person households, accounting for 41%. , which is equivalent to more than 4 out of 10 families are 1 person, and you can imagine how desperate everyone is.
When the economy is growing at a high rate, many problems are covered up, but when the economy is in a downturn, all of them are exposed.
Rising prices, employment difficulties, gender discrimination, etc., have led to a sharp increase in people's dissatisfaction with society, followed by turmoil. The attack on Lee Jae-myung is actually a copy of Abe's assassination.
In contrast, Japan is relatively good, because the development time is relatively long, the family background is very solid, South Korea is much inferior, the time for wealth accumulation is shorter, and the nature of the people is more extreme, and there is a high probability that there will be more fierce conflicts in the future, and Lee Jae-myung's matter is just the beginning. What do you think?#Lee Jae-myung, the leader of South Korea's largest opposition party, was attacked##Social Situation##财经#