뉴욕 타임스의 이번 대선에 대한 기사를 보면서, 챙피하고 분하고, 문재인을 비롯한 집권 여당놈들에게 사기만 당하고, 남들 보기에 좋은 직장을 다니고 있는 어떤 젊은이들은 한탄하기를 "평생을 다녀도 집한칸 장만할수없는, 이런 나라가 세상에 대한민국말고, 또 어디에 있단 말이냐?"고 한탄뿐이다라는 기사를 보면서, 정말로 챙피하다 못해 쥐구멍이라도 들어가고 싶은 심정이다.
경제10대국의 대열에 올라섰다고, G8국가군에 들어 섰다고.... 문재인을 비롯한 더불당 찌라시놈들은 눈만뜨면 대국민 사기를 치기에 혈안이고..... 한국의 내부 사정을 잘 모르는 외지인들은, "아! 한국이 그렇게 잘사는 나라인가?"라는 으아한 눈으로 한국을 응시한다.
하늘 높게 뛰어 오르는 집값, 직장잡기가 하늘의 별따기 보다 더 어렵고, 소득격차가 갈수록 넓어지고 깊어지고, 한때는 선거에서 스윙보트를 쥐고 있었던 세대들은 아직까지도 어느 후보를 선택해야할지 헤매고 있고, 그래서 더 심각하게 생각해서 다음 대통령을 뽑아야 하는데.....
2019년 대학교에 입학한 정현민군은 회상하기를 그때는 미화 10달러만 있어도 3일동안 먹거리를 해결할수 있었는데, 그때 대한민국에는 스캔달이 발생하여 지금도 그여파는 계속흔들고 있다. 그때 정군은 맥주홀에서 친구들과 만남을 끝내고 테이블을 치우고 있는 그시간에 한국의 법무장관 조국과 그의 부인 정경심은 아무도 모르게 그들의 딸이 좋은 의과대학에 입학할수 있도록 하기위해 모든 증빙서류를 위조하여 사용했던게 발각되여 국민들의 비난과 원성은 하늘을 찌르고 있었다.
"나는 당시 국민들은 어떤 생각을 하고 있었는지를 깨달았었다. 대한민국에서 당신이 성공할수있고 없고 하는 길은 바로 당신의 부모가 어떤 권력, 공직을 갖고 있느냐에 따라 결정된다는 것을. 정치꾼들이 우리 젊은이들의 믿음을 되찾아가기 위해서는 공정한 사회를 만드는것이 그열쇠다"라고 대전대학교에서 정치학을 전공하고있는 '정'군의 설명이다.
Frustrated over housing prices, a lack of job opportunities and a widening income gap, the once-reliable voting bloc is undecided and will most likely elect the next president.
SEOUL — When he was a college freshman in 2019, Jeong Hyun-min sometimes had less than $10 to cover meals for three days. That same year, a scandal erupted in South Korea that still roils him today.While Mr. Jeong was cleaning tables and serving drinks at beer halls just to make ends meet, the country’s justice minister and his wife were accused of pulling strings to help their daughter glide into medical school, even fabricating an award certificate.“I realized what people had been saying all along: Your chances in this country are determined by what kind of parents you have,” said Mr. Jeong, a political science major at Daejeon University. “Fairness is the key if politicians want our trust back.”
On Wednesday, South Koreans will elect a new president and all eyes are on young people, whose disillusionment with the government has made this one of the most tightly fought races in recent memory.
Frustrated over sky-high housing prices, a lack of job opportunities and a widening income gap, young people who were once considered reliably progressive voters are now seen as undecided and will most likely tip the balance in the election.
Unlike previous generations, these voters are not easily swayed by old political dynamics, such as regional allegiance, loyalty to political bosses, fear of North Korea or a desire to ease tension on the Korean Peninsula. Instead, they talk of economic despair and general frustration as their primary concerns, themes captured in popular movies and TV dramas like “Parasite” and “Squid Game.”
Many have adopted a saying: “isaenggeul,” or “We can’t make it in this life.”
“In the past, young South Koreans tended to vote progressive, but now they have become swing voters,” said Prof. Kim Hyung-joon, an election expert at Myongji University in Seoul. “To them, nothing matters as much as fairness and equal opportunity and which candidate will provide it.”
Yoon Suk-yeol, the leading candidate from the opposition People Power Party, has won over voters in their 60s and older by pitching their preferred conservative agenda. He has championed a stronger alliance with the United States and even threatened “pre-emptive strikes” against North Korea.
Mr. Yoon’s rival, Lee Jae-myung, the candidate representing President Moon Jae-in’s Democratic Party, remains popular among voters in their 40s and 50s. He has called for a diplomatic balance between the United States, South Korea’s security ally, and China, its biggest trading partner.
Few of these issues have roused South Koreans in their 20s and 30s, who make up one-third of the eligible voters, as much as they did older voters. Rather, on top of their minds is an uncertain economic future.
“We will be the first generation whose standard of living will be lower than our parents’,” said Kim Dong-min, 24, a student at Konkuk University Law School.
In the decades following the 1950-53 Korean War, most South Koreans were equally poor. Those who found success were often referred to as “a dragon rising from a humble ditch.”
Middle-class dreams were plausible as the postwar economy roared, churning out jobs. Education functioned as a vehicle of upward mobility. Millions of people migrated to the Seoul metropolitan area, where the best schools and most of the country’s wealth was eventually concentrated.
Getting a degree from an elite university and owning an apartment in Seoul became symbols of social mobility. But in recent decades, the economy slowed, and that old formula has broken down. In a survey last year, nearly 65 percent of the respondents in South Korea said they were skeptical that their children’s economic future would be better than their own.
A majority of respondents in their 20s and 30s said they no longer saw education as the great equalizer, as admission into top universities depended largely on whether parents could bankroll expensive private tutors.
“How would you feel when you are struggling in a marathon and you see others cruising along in sports cars?” said Oh Byeong-ju, 23, a senior at Dongguk University in Seoul.
In South Korea, where nearly three-quarters of household wealth is concentrated in real estate, no index illustrates widening inequality quite like housing prices. Young couples whose wealthy parents helped them buy apartments — a tradition in South Korea — saw their property value in Seoul nearly double under Mr. Moon.
The average household, on the other hand, must save its entire income for 18.5 years in order to afford an apartment in the city, according to estimates by KB Kookmin Bank.
“It has become impossible to buy an apartment in Seoul, even if you work and save for your entire life,” said Park Eun-hye, 27, who works at Youth Mungan, a civic group that provides affordable meals for poor youths. “Whatever the candidates say sounds unconvincing. Young people instead invest what little money we save in stocks and cryptocurrencies.”
South Korea’s poverty rate and its income inequality are among the worst in wealthy countries, with youths facing some of the steepest challenges. Nearly one in every five South Koreans between the ages of 15 and 29 was effectively jobless as of January, according to government data. That is far higher than the national average, 13.1 percent.
Upon his inauguration, Mr. Moon promised “equal opportunities” for everyone. “The process will be fair,” he said. “And the result will be righteous.”
Many young people claim fairness and equal opportunity — or their versions of those values — have been eroded instead. They bristled when Mr. Moon’s government formed a joint ice hockey team with North Korea for the 2018 Winter Olympics, arguing that it was unfair to replace elite South Korean athletes with inferior North Korean players.
And last year, after a scandal revealed officials had used their position to seek personal gain in the housing market, young voters helped deliver Mr. Moon’s government a crushing defeat in the Seoul mayoral election.
Rival political parties have since rushed to appease South Korean youth. Lawmakers lowered the minimum voting age to 18 from 19 and the age limit for running for Parliament to 18 from 25. Mr. Lee and Mr. Yoon, the two leading presidential candidates, have both apologized and have applied different tactics to win votes.
Mr. Yoon’s popularity soared among men in the 20s after he promised to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Women and sidelined a campaign adviser who identified as a feminist. Anti-feminist sentiments are widespread among the young men.
Mr. Lee is more popular among women in their 20s, and he has promised to introduce harsher punishment for date rape and other sex crimes. He also campaigned to make companies reveal gender-wage gaps to their employees and to the public.
But 20 percent to 30 percent of South Koreans in their 20s and 30s have said they may change their mind about their preferred candidate before they vote this week, according to surveys. “Our support shifts from one political party to another, issue by issue,” Mr. Jeong said.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/08/world/asia/south-korea-young-voters-election.html
No comments:
Post a Comment