Seoul/Mokpo, South Korea – Kim Ji-ung felt isolated all the time in Seoul, the capital of South Korea. Single and in his early 30s, the salesman spent most of his day at work or holed up in his apartment.
Kim told Al Jazeera, “I pondered about dying while I was driving in the morning.”
“The most difficult thing was that I had no one to talk to. I would be at home playing video games or scrolling through TV channels after work, he said.
Finding it difficult to make connections at work, Kim was feeling increasingly desperate and isolated. Then, a close friend of his passed away at work.
“That’s when I really started to ask myself, ‘ Will I be next? ‘” he stated.
It was then that Kim made one of the toughest decisions of his life – to pack his bags and move away from Seoul, a city of 9.6 million people that offered him the best chance of a career and a stable salary.
Officials in the capital are concerned that the population, which was 10.97 million in 1992, has been declining steadily over the past few decades. The city’s population of those aged 19 to 39 has been on the decline as well, falling from 3.18 million in 2016 to 2.86 million in 2023.
Census data from Seoul reveal that while the city is still popular with its promise of high-paying corporate jobs, its young population has declined. Nearly as many people have moved to Seoul in the past ten years.
‘ Hell Joseon ‘
Despite South Korea’s capital becoming a technological and cultural powerhouse, which international travelers consistently rate as one of the world’s most exciting cities, this trend persists.
Fortune 500 companies such as LG, Hyundai Motors and SK Group employ thousands of young professionals in their headquarters in the bustling downtown. Frieze Seoul, one of the biggest art fairs in the world, is held in Gangnam, and the nation’s cosmetics and beauty industry, pop culture, and cuisine are well-known worldwide.
Seoul’s international allure is also evident in the hip bars, eateries and clubs in the Hongdae and Seongsu neighbourhoods, where foreign tourists flood the streets seven days a week.
However, Seoul’s young adults have called the city’s work-to-survive lifestyle “Hell Joseon” because they are disillusioned by a housing bubble that has made homes unaffordable and a work culture marked by long hours and low pay. The term references the ancient kingdom that was once based where Seoul is today.
According to Yoo Hye-jeong of the think tank Korean Peninsula Population Institute for Future, “Our society is known for its infamous jobs that force employees to work long hours, stymie the careers of women who give birth, and make it difficult for men to apply for paternity leave.”
“Seoul’s abnormally high costs for housing and child education translate to difficulty in creating a stable economic foundation for families”, Yoo said, describing an , incompatibility between work and having a family life in the capital.
‘ Don’t Worry Village ‘
Kim’s decision to leave Seoul was a coincidence, according to Kim, who discovered an online advertisement for a getaway program at Don’t Worry Village.
Located in Mokpo, a city tucked away in the southwestern corner of the country with a population of 210, 000 and an abundance of abandoned buildings, the village got its start from another deserter from Seoul, Hong Dong-joo.
Hong’s path to the upper echelons of South Korean society was a direct result of his high school education in Seoul’s prestigious Daechi-dong neighborhood.
But when he turned 20, he knew that “life in Seoul, working at a high-paying job was not the life I wanted”, the 38-year-old told Al Jazeera. I disliked working in the office for a long period of time each day. And so, when Hong became a mechanical engineering major at a Seoul university, he did the improbable: He moved away from the city.
After setting up a travel agency and meeting hundreds of young adults who had experiences of isolation and difficulties with corporate and social life in Seoul and other places, he came up with the idea to start Don’t Worry Village.
“The blueprint for our village was to make a hometown that would act as a community – something that so many people in our country lack in their lives”, he said.
“In some ways, I was in the business of providing protection to people in our society who needed it.”
“National emergency”
Analysts describe the situation for many young people in the country as a “national emergency” that is being largely overlooked.
Our society “oversaw the establishment of a support net for our young population” said Kim Seong-a, a researcher at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA).
“The side effects of a society going through extreme industrialisation in a very short amount of time was the gradual disappearing roles of families” in the modern lifestyle and work becoming its primary focus, she said.
Her assessment is supported by research conducted for the Pew Research Center in 2021. Participants from 17 advanced economies were asked: “What makes life meaningful”? Families were the most frequently asked questions by people from 14 of the 17 countries, including Japan, the United States, and New Zealand. South Korean respondents, however, chose material wellbeing as their top answer. Family was the third priority for them.
Kim, the KIHASA researcher, said South Korean society now prioritises “money over people”.
She said, “We’ve seen significant increases in the country’s GDP, life expectancy, and other areas that policy changes can improve.” “But social factors like faith in others, trust in society and generosity towards others have relatively been less developed in our country”.
South Korea placed 33rd out of the 38 member states of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), with a score of 6 4 on a 10-point scale in 2023, in surveys of life satisfaction. It also has the highest number of suicides among OECD countries with a suicide rate of 24.3 per 100, 000 people. Compare that to Lithuania, which had 18.5 per 100,000 people and was a distant second.
In the ensuing years, the South Korean suicide rate has only increased, reaching 28.3 per 100, 000 people in 2024, a 13-year high.
A sizable portion of suicides are committed by young people. Of the 14, 439 cases of suicide reported last year, 13.4 percent of the cases were people in their 30s.
There are many young people in our country who take all the social responsibilities that come with failing to find employment, failing to study, and experiencing family issues, Kim Seong-a said.
“They’re by themselves, so there’s a great chance that they can become isolated. When they go through a setback, they require someone to talk to or ask for assistance. This way, they can deal with it or overcome it”, she said.
However, Seoul’s official statistics indicate that more young people are living alone. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, more than a third of the city’s population lives alone with young people accounting for 64 percent of single-person households, up from 51.3 percent a decade ago.
The Seoul Institute, a top think tank, found that 62.1 percent of respondents to a recent survey of 3, 000 single-person households in the city experienced persistent loneliness. Another 13.6 percent were identified as socially isolated, a term that refers to individuals with no support network during times of emotional distress, physical illness or sudden financial problems.
Seoul Without Loneliness
South Korea’s government is well aware of the issues of social isolation and a punishing work culture in Seoul and has moved to address the issue in recent years.
It launched its “Seoul Without Loneliness” initiative last year, which will invest 451.3 billion won ($322 million) over the course of five years in initiatives like a 24-hour emotional support hotline and community centers called Seoul Maeum Convenience Stores where visitors can request free ramen noodles and drop in for free bowls of ramen noodles.
Authorities in Seoul have also promoted special date nights for singles in the city, and the government has introduced numerous stimulus packages for newlyweds and new parents to address South Korea’s declining birthrate, which is currently ranked the lowest in the world.
Beyond Seoul’s gates, the government is also looking for solutions.
In fact, Don’t Worry Village was one of the first prototypes for inclusive communities outside Seoul that could potentially develop into youth-centred regions that create homes and jobs for young adults while populating rural regions.
Applications to relocate to Mokpo and meet with fellow residents can get financial assistance from the Ministry of Interior and Safety with funding from the Ministry of Interior and Safety.
Kim Ji-ung, the former salesman from Seoul, attended one such workshop in 2018 and then eventually moved there. He claimed that when he did that, how simple social connections were to form afterward surprised him.
“Because the city is quite small, it’s likely that you’ll meet other young people through one way or another”, Kim said. People “tell each other favors, and you can make friends here by simply saying “hi” to them.”
That was such a stark contrast to Seoul, where people do not have time to greet each other and do not want to become involved in other people’s businesses, he said.
Kim continued to work in Mokpo’s various jobs until 2022 when he used his university degree to launch a one-person interior design firm. Hong is his neighbour, and the pair frequently grab lunch together. Kim said that starting to enjoy his free time has been the biggest positive thing he’s experienced in addition to doing what he loves.
“On random nights, I’ll just go down to the ferry terminal and get on a midnight boat to Jeju Island”, he said. “I’ll just stay there for the morning,” he says, “but the little things like this show me that I’m enjoying myself here.”
Looking outside Seoul
Hong’s life has also undergone a significant change.
Back in his days in Seoul, he did not think too much about getting married. But he soon met the woman in Mokpo, who later became his wife. He is now a father as well.
“In Seoul, the individual has to sacrifice so much of their own lives for their companies, to make a living and for the good of society as a whole”, Hong said. I have control over my time in Mokpo, though. I’m able to do what I want for work, and money is not that intimidating to me any more”.
Park Myung-ho and Kim Min-jee, the husband and wife of Kim Min-jee, both resigned from their jobs in Seoul in favor of what they termed a “relaxed life” in Mokpo.
Park, 38, worked for one of South Korea’s biggest arms manufacturers while Kim was an employee at the country’s largest advertising company.
After meeting in Don’t Worry Village, the couple got married.
“There’s just too much competition in Seoul. According to Park, it appeared that only those with large capital could launch a business. “As someone who wanted to start my own business, it was more reasonable to look outside of Seoul”.
Kim runs a guesthouse developed by her husband’s company in downtown Mokpo while Park is now the CEO of a nearby property development company.
Kim, 35, also gave birth to a son more than a year ago whom she did not expect to have so soon.
She said, “I always imagined having children later in my life or having a married life.”
“Working for a major company meant nearly no time at home and weekends spent in the office. Finding affordable housing is even more challenging, she said, and raising children in Seoul is nearly impossible without the assistance of parents or child care providers.
You are essentially judged for everything.
While Don’t Worry Village has become a prototype for more than 50 youth-centred communities around the country that the government has created in recent years, the reality for young adults moving away from Seoul to live in rural regions has proven to be difficult.
Seoul’s workforce, employment, and important infrastructure are still a focus.
And that is why, despite Hong hosting more than 21 workshops for people considering moving to Don’t Worry Village and attracting more than 2, 000 visitors, only 20 people have remained there.
About 900 people ended up moving to the youth villages, according to the Ministry of Interior and Safety, who assisted in the creation of the youth villages.
For many South Korean youth, starting a second chapter in life outside the country has become increasingly popular.
One of the tens of thousands of young adults who submit annual applications for working holiday visas to live and work abroad for a specific period of time is Brianna Lee.
“Life in South Korea is just too intensive”, 30-year-old , Lee , said.
At a certain age, you are expected to work, marry, buy a home, and make money. And you’re judged for literally everything”, she said.
In Ilsan, a city north of Seoul, where people criticize and consider nurses to be socially inferior, Lee said there is widespread discrimination.
“On top of working 11-hour shifts, we would be asked to do tasks that we weren’t required to perform”, she said.
After experiencing burnout, Lee applied for a working holiday in Canada, where she worked in restaurants and spent about a year taking classes at an English-language academy.
Today, she is back home preparing to take a test to become a nurse in the US.
According to Lee, “people in the US respect nurses a lot more and they pay a lot better.”
“Most importantly, people aren’t nosy”, she said.
