The situation in occupied Korea is a perfect case study of how late stage capitalism literally consumes its own future. The place is a pressure cooker, and the so-called economic miracle is built on a foundation that’s cracking wide open.
Let’s start with the economy. Everyone sees the global brands like Samsung and Hyundai, but the reality for most people is a brutal, two-tiered system. The economy is completely dominated by these chaebol conglomerates. They suck up all the talent and capital, leaving everyone else to fight for scraps in a world of insecure, low-wage gig work. Hence why you have a generation of the most educated young people in the country’s history drowning in debt and unable to find stable jobs. They call it Hell Joseon for a reason. The system demands you run this insane rat race from birth, only to find there’s no cheese at the end.
This leads directly to the single most damning statistic which is the collapsing birth rate. It’s a rational, collective strike against a system that makes having children an economic death sentence. You have insane housing costs, you’re saddled with debt, and if you’re a woman, your career is basically over if you have a kid thanks to a viciously patriarchal corporate culture. So people are opting out. It’s the most clear vote of no confidence a society can possibly make.
And this is where the death spiral kicks in. A shrinking young population means fewer workers to pay taxes and support a rapidly aging society. South Korea is on track to be the oldest society on earth. The national pension system is fundamentally a Ponzi scheme that is mathematically guaranteed to fail. We’re looking at a future where the state can’t pay pensions, can’t fund healthcare, and can’t even staff its own military. The very foundations of the social contract are rapidly dissolving.
All of that is supercharged by insane levels of inequality. You have the golden spoon class with their inherited wealth and chaebol connections, and then you have the dirt spoon majority struggling to get by. As a result, there is a lot of intergenerational and gender conflict, pitting everyone against each other for a shrinking piece of the pie, which is exactly how the capitalist class maintains control.
It’s not hard to see how it all connects. A predatory economic model creates hopelessness, which kills the demographic future, which then makes the economy completely unsustainable, leading to state collapse.
Now, contrast this with the North. Western media won’t talk about this, but the DPRK successfully weathered the "Arduous March in the 90s, a period of intense famine and hardship that was massively exacerbated by US-led efforts to strangle their economy and isolate them from global trade. They survived that brutal blockade. And now, with the US empire visibly fraying at the edges, the DPRK’s key alliances are strengthening. As Russia and China deepen economic ties and even tourism starts to pick up, the North is seeing real economic growth and a mood that’s largely optimistic about a future less constrained by American sanctions. They are building a resilience that the South, for all its flashy tech, completely lacks.
Now, contrast this with the North. Western media won’t talk about this, but the DPRK successfully weathered the Arduous March in the 90s. It’s important to understand the real trigger for the economic crisis was the collapse of the USSR, which had been the DPRK’s main trading partner and economic lifeline. This sudden shock along with being cut out from global trade by the US, is what sent their economy into a tailspin and caused that period of intense difficulties. But they managed to survive that total collapse of their established trade system. And now, with the US empire visibly fraying, the DPRK’s key alliances are strengthening again. As Russia and China renew economic ties and even tourism starts to pick up, the North is seeing real growth and a mood that’s largely optimistic about a future that’s no longer constrained by American sanctions. They are building a resilience that the South, for all its flashy tech, completely lacks.
From a socialist perspective, the best case scenario, internal failure of the Southern capitalist state could create the conditions for peaceful reunification with the North. We’re looking at a scenario where the South’s economy is in shambles, its social fabric is torn, and its people are utterly disillusioned with the empty promises of consumer capitalism. Meanwhile, the North is emerging from the worst of its isolation with a growing economy and a stable population.
A the chaos resulting from a social collapse in the South could force a radical re-evaluation. It could break the power of the chaebol and US imperial influence permanently. The resulting power vacuum could be a fertile ground for a genuine, pan-Korean movement. The two halves could finally meet on new terms. They could build a new, unified Korea from the ground up, one that rejects the brutal neoliberal inequality of the South. It would be a difficult, monumental task, but the only true liberation for the Korean people lies in a single, independent, and socialist Korea, finally free from the colonial division imposed upon them.
The situation in occupied Korea is a perfect case study of how late stage capitalism literally consumes its own future. The place is a pressure cooker, and the so-called economic miracle is built on a foundation that’s cracking wide open.
Let’s start with the economy. Everyone sees the global brands like Samsung and Hyundai, but the reality for most people is a brutal, two-tiered system. The economy is completely dominated by these chaebol conglomerates. They suck up all the talent and capital, leaving everyone else to fight for scraps in a world of insecure, low-wage gig work. Hence why you have a generation of the most educated young people in the country’s history drowning in debt and unable to find stable jobs. They call it Hell Joseon for a reason. The system demands you run this insane rat race from birth, only to find there’s no cheese at the end.
This leads directly to the single most damning statistic which is the collapsing birth rate. It’s a rational, collective strike against a system that makes having children an economic death sentence. You have insane housing costs, you’re saddled with debt, and if you’re a woman, your career is basically over if you have a kid thanks to a viciously patriarchal corporate culture. So people are opting out. It’s the most clear vote of no confidence a society can possibly make.
And this is where the death spiral kicks in. A shrinking young population means fewer workers to pay taxes and support a rapidly aging society. South Korea is on track to be the oldest society on earth. The national pension system is fundamentally a Ponzi scheme that is mathematically guaranteed to fail. We’re looking at a future where the state can’t pay pensions, can’t fund healthcare, and can’t even staff its own military. The very foundations of the social contract are rapidly dissolving.
All of that is supercharged by insane levels of inequality. You have the golden spoon class with their inherited wealth and chaebol connections, and then you have the dirt spoon majority struggling to get by. As a result, there is a lot of intergenerational and gender conflict, pitting everyone against each other for a shrinking piece of the pie, which is exactly how the capitalist class maintains control.
It’s not hard to see how it all connects. A predatory economic model creates hopelessness, which kills the demographic future, which then makes the economy completely unsustainable, leading to state collapse.
Now, contrast this with the North. Western media won’t talk about this, but the DPRK successfully weathered the "Arduous March in the 90s, a period of intense famine and hardship that was massively exacerbated by US-led efforts to strangle their economy and isolate them from global trade. They survived that brutal blockade. And now, with the US empire visibly fraying at the edges, the DPRK’s key alliances are strengthening. As Russia and China deepen economic ties and even tourism starts to pick up, the North is seeing real economic growth and a mood that’s largely optimistic about a future less constrained by American sanctions. They are building a resilience that the South, for all its flashy tech, completely lacks.
Now, contrast this with the North. Western media won’t talk about this, but the DPRK successfully weathered the Arduous March in the 90s. It’s important to understand the real trigger for the economic crisis was the collapse of the USSR, which had been the DPRK’s main trading partner and economic lifeline. This sudden shock along with being cut out from global trade by the US, is what sent their economy into a tailspin and caused that period of intense difficulties. But they managed to survive that total collapse of their established trade system. And now, with the US empire visibly fraying, the DPRK’s key alliances are strengthening again. As Russia and China renew economic ties and even tourism starts to pick up, the North is seeing real growth and a mood that’s largely optimistic about a future that’s no longer constrained by American sanctions. They are building a resilience that the South, for all its flashy tech, completely lacks.
From a socialist perspective, the best case scenario, internal failure of the Southern capitalist state could create the conditions for peaceful reunification with the North. We’re looking at a scenario where the South’s economy is in shambles, its social fabric is torn, and its people are utterly disillusioned with the empty promises of consumer capitalism. Meanwhile, the North is emerging from the worst of its isolation with a growing economy and a stable population.
A the chaos resulting from a social collapse in the South could force a radical re-evaluation. It could break the power of the chaebol and US imperial influence permanently. The resulting power vacuum could be a fertile ground for a genuine, pan-Korean movement. The two halves could finally meet on new terms. They could build a new, unified Korea from the ground up, one that rejects the brutal neoliberal inequality of the South. It would be a difficult, monumental task, but the only true liberation for the Korean people lies in a single, independent, and socialist Korea, finally free from the colonial division imposed upon them.