[The Glitch #02] Dreams Disappearing: Why Korea’s MZ Generation Are Leaving Seoul

July 12, 2022 - For young Korean people, there was always an assumption that to succeed meant living in Seoul (인서울). If you were in your teens or twenties and living in provincial areas, you tried to get into the capital where the best universities, clubs, partners, and life was. The busy Seoul life was romanticized. It was what you always saw in those beautiful skin perfect K-dramas.

But reality is changing. Now, daily reports show us over and over again the rates of the 2030 generation dropping rapidly out of Seoul. Many of them are moving to satellite cities around the capital. But once there, they are faced with the necessity of travelling back to Seoul regularly for work, education, and life. With fading hopes of genuine social mobility, the economic and cultural constraints on Korea’s young workers and students are getting ever tougher.

Where does the happiness of the MZ Generation lie?

The Glitch continues to provide you with data, analysis, and authentic Korean voices.