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SEOUL: Youm Seungbin, a 31-year-old school administrator, is not alone in seeking a better life. But Youm and thousands of other South Koreans seem to feel there is only one way to make that happen: move to another country.
“I cannot see any future here,” Youm said on the sidelines of a recent emigration fair that attracted 15,000 people in Seoul. “If my wife and I spent no money at all, it would take me about 10 years to buy a nice apartment.”
Youm, who visited Australia, New Zealand and Fiji last month as part of quest to find a new home, said he would be willing to take a blue-collar job if that would get him overseas.
He is one of a growing number of young South Koreans disillusioned by a flagging economy, the prospects of layoffs as well as the hugely competitive and expensive education system.
Perhaps surprisingly for outsiders, fear about a nuclear-armed North Korea rarely figures as a reason to leave.
Emigration is nothing new — the first Koreans emigrated to the United States a century ago. There are large Korean communities there and in Latin America and Europe.
But South Korea is Asia’s fourth-largest economy and no longer an agricultural backwater. Yet the pull seems to be just as strong.
A programme on a major South Korean cable-shopping channel, for example, made headlines when it sold about 70.5 billion won ($60.2 million) worth of emigration packages to Canada. It lured nearly 4,000 customers for the packages that included help with paperwork and accommodation.
The sales from just two programmes allowed Hyundai Homeshopping to reach 10 per cent of its annual revenue target from its television shopping business.
“South Koreans in their 20s and 30s seem to feel there’s little hope and they will lose everything if they just stay,” said Kim Son-ung, a sociology professor at Hanyang University. The bulk of those who bought emigration packages were that age.
EDUCATION AND ECONOMICS: South Korea’s unemployment rate was 3.5 per cent in August, staying near a 22-month high set in July, because of the sluggish economy.
“A tough economic situation forces people to think ‘if my country cannot secure my life, I will give up my nationality’,” said Park Gil-sung, a sociology professor at Korea University.
An intriguing aspect of recent trends is the rise in the number of professionals, such as IT experts, leaving.
According to statistics from the Foreign Ministry, 3,395 South Koreans left to look for work abroad in the first eight months of this year compared with 1,118 who left to invest in other countries in the same period.
Since 1962, more than 140,000 South Koreans emigrated with skilled-worker status. About 50,000 went abroad to invest. In all, about 900,000 South Koreans have left since 1962.
Another reason for going abroad is the high cost of private education, which is seen necessary to win a seat at a respected university. But even then graduates are not guaranteed a secure job.
Canada is a major destination and while the actual number of people going there is not increasing — partly because of a tougher Canadian immigration policy, including English or French-language proficiency — the number of those wishing to get there is on the rise, an official said.
“Less than 7,000 left the country up to August this year, compared with around 7,400 in same period last year,” he said.
Unless the economy recovers, emigration will grow to a broader range of countries, Park predicted.—Reuters
