[Kim Seong-kon] Why are Korean young men angry now?

Korea Herald

18-02-2025

The term 'Angry Young Men' originally referred to a group of young British playwrights and novelists in the 1950s, who were disillusioned with their snobbish society and revolted against it. These days, Korean young men in their 20s and 30s are angry, too. What, then, makes them so angry in 2025?
Recently, I watched a street interview with a renowned 30-year-old Korean YouTuber conducted by a TV reporter. During the whole interview, the young Youtuber was full of 'the sound and the fury,' and did not hesitate to express his anger at today's Korean society and political climate. Listening to his furious, yet persuasive arguments, I came to understand why young Koreans are angry now.
Today's young Koreans are angry with the Moon Jae-in administration that was primarily responsible for all the misery they are now facing and suffering. For example, a plethora of misconceived, misdirected policies carried out by the amateurish Moon administration resulted in the abrupt unemployment of their fathers who were nuclear facility workers, college instructors and chauffeurs, among others.
Unlike the Angry Young Men of the past, what angers Korean young people today is less straightforwardly a group of pretentious elites, than the opposite: leftwing populism. Angry young people are enraged at the populism of the Moon administration and the current Democratic Party of Korea. In their eyes, populism is a cancerous disease that our politicians have spread to our society. The problem is that it will be young people who will inevitably have to pay for it, as it will eventually ruin the otherwise prosperous South Korean economy.
Moreover, young Koreans have belatedly come to see that the Moon administration was naively used and manipulated by North Korea, and thus, it wasted its time and energy, playing the spokesperson and advocate for a hostile country that threatened us with nuclear weapons. Unlike the older generation, proud young Koreans do not feel intimidated by overbearing and bullying socialist countries.
Young Koreans are particularly angry at their politicians who lean heavily on the left. In their eyes, these politicians are overtly submissive to their neighboring socialist countries, while turning away from South Korea's traditional Free World allies. Young people are also furious at the subversive leftists' attempt to turn South Korea into a socialist country because the outcome will undoubtedly be South Korea's economic collapse, the deprivation of its autonomy and even the loss of her sovereignty.
Korean young men are upset with the judiciary, too, which unnecessarily tries to expedite the sentence of President Yoon, while dragging out the trial process for the leader of the opposition party. Judges should be ideology-free and politics-free. Unfortunately, however, in young people's eyes, quite a few judges are severely biased.
Young Koreans are mad because they have lost their faith not only in the judiciary system but also in journalism. When there is a suspicion of fraudulent elections, they believe that it is journalists' duty to report it and demand investigations to reveal the truth. Strangely, however, Korean journalists, whether on the left or the right, have unanimously dismissed the issue as a conspiracy theory. Young people find it very weird and suspicious.
In addition, the young Korean Youtubers are outraged at what they consider the far-left labeling them as 'far-right.' 'We're not far-right,' some Korean young men retort. 'We just talk common sense.' Then, they continue, 'People are watching YouTube these days, not because YouTubers are far-right, but because they no longer trust newspapers or television news.'
Korean young people said that thanks to the recent failed martial law declaration, they opened their eyes to the problems of the National Assembly. They have now realized that it has been the National Assembly that has maliciously paralyzed the government. Regardless of the widespread unpopularity of President Yoon, people cannot deny that he has tried to restore severely damaged diplomacy with our allies. On the contrary, the National Assembly has done nothing, except for passing the bills that benefit the opposition party only or crippling the government's plans and policies.
Watching the polarity in our society, young Koreans are deeply disillusioned with their politicians, whose ideas strikingly resemble those of self-righteous terrorists. In the 2024 American action film 'Aftermath,' a terrorist leader unabashedly claims, 'We are the truth and all who oppose us are the lie.' To young Koreans, it is the same as the catchphrase of their politicians.
Needless to say, the older generation is responsible for the disillusionment and anger of young Koreans. Thus, older people should be ashamed of themselves because they have failed to bequeath a better society to their future generation. We can only hope the new 'Angry Young Men' can save our country from falling apart.
Kim Seong-kon is a professor emeritus of English at Seoul National University and a visiting scholar at Dartmouth College. The views expressed here are the writer's own. -- Ed.