Author: Emma Campbell, ANU

It is hard enough to be a twenty-something in the best of times, but South Korea’s twenty-somethings (the yishipdae) are having it particularly tough. This new generation, the ‘G-generation’, is the focus of critical attention across Korea’s intellectual and media forums. They are Korea’s most highly educated generation, with unique international experience. They are the first generation whose lives have only spanned post-1987 democratic South Korea.

These expressions of concern by older generations is historically unprecedented in South Korea. A book 88 man won saedae, decrying the directionless trajectory of these young people, sold over one million copies. Read more…