“We live in a strange land now.”
Truly, we live in a very 'strange country'.
We have achieved political democracy that the world envies and economic growth that astonishes the world, yet our misfortunes are growing by the day.
South Korea has the highest suicide rate in the world, the longest working hours, the most unequal, and the highest rate of worker deaths.
And that's not all.
South Korea is the country with the most depressed children in the world, the country with the lowest birth rate, and the country where everyone distrusts everyone else the most.
At this point, it would not be an exaggeration to say that this is a hell where humans cannot live.
It is by no means a criticism that the younger generation coined the term 'Hell Joseon.'

In his book, The Spectacle of Death, Italian philosopher Franco Bifo Berardi identified four characteristics of Korean society.
'Endless competition, extreme individualism, desertification of daily life, and hyper-acceleration of the rhythm of life' are the things.
I find this creepy, like a list of things to do in hell.
Why have we come to this? Despite our tremendous political and economic achievements, why do we live in such misery? Why do we crawl in such miserable submission? Why do our children spend their supposedly happy childhood and adolescence in such melancholy? What, where did it all go wrong?
---From "Introductory Remarks"

An overwhelming insight that shocked and moved everyone
The question is, how can we practice democracy if we are not democrats?
Not long ago, I wrote a column in a newspaper titled “Democracy Without Democrats” in this vein.
If the people who gathered in Gwanghwamun and shouted for democracy at the top of their lungs were utterly patriarchal fathers at home, authoritarian teachers who bullied their children like rats at school the next day, or bosses who abused their power at work, where would democracy be? In other words, in this country, there's a disconnect between "square democracy" and "everyday democracy."
We are not yet democratic enough.
How does everyday democracy differ from public square democracy? How can we practice everyday democracy?
---From "Our Revolution Has Not Arrived"

Another important factor preventing Korean society from qualitatively transforming into a new society is the moral superiority of the 86 generation.
It is a clear fact that the 86 generation advanced Korean democracy to this extent through their moral determination and countless sacrifices.
Yet, they have never fought a true opponent.
I've never competed with anyone to their left.
I have never confronted progressives who claim to advocate for a truly free, just, and equal world.
Their opponents have always been conservatives who rely on foreign powers and opportunistically pursue only their own interests.
Because we have only ever competed with conservative forces whose moral flaws are so obvious, we have always had to be morally superior.

---From "The Great and Dangerous 86 Generation"

What is noteworthy is that in Germany, sex education is considered the most important political education.
To understand this, a little explanation is needed.
Theodor Adorno, who had a great influence on educational reform in Germany, said, “The greatest enemy of democracy is the weak ego.”
At a time when I was wondering why democracy was so weak in Korea, this quote from Adorno's essay gave me a shocking insight.
If this is true, then a community made up of people with weak egos cannot practice democracy.
In order to have a democracy, each and every member must become a mature citizen with a strong sense of self.
These words made me realize why Korean democracy is fragile.
How strong of an ego do Koreans really have?
---From "Korean Education Trapped in Competition"

The most important fact here is that of those 300 or so members of the National Assembly, about 290 support a free market economy.
Among the political parties currently in the National Assembly, the only one that opposes the free market economic system is the Justice Party.
All other political parties support, or at least do not oppose, a free market economy.
No other country in the world has such an extreme parliamentary composition.
There is no other country on earth where 98 percent of our members support a free market economy.
Even the United States, the paradise of free-market economics, is not this extreme.
Koreans don't quite understand what a free market economy is and how it affects their lives.
---From "A Society Where Beasts Run Wild"

This time, the government changed again and the Moon Jae-in government came into power.
But have things improved? Have any of the various political and social issues—inequality, unemployment, irregular employment, conglomerate reform, education reform—been properly addressed? The public is only now beginning to realize this.
'This isn't a question of regime change.
He said, 'There is some structural problem in Korean society.'
The problem is that South Korea's political landscape is one of the most conservative and extremely right-wing in the world.
In Germany, the most conservative party, the Christian Democratic Union, is implementing a social market economy, while in Korea, even the so-called progressive Democratic Party believes in a free market economy. This clearly explains why Korea is falling into Hell Joseon.

---From "Change of government alone cannot change"

We cannot help but look at the issue of unification from a new perspective.
In other words, unification of the Korean Peninsula would mean the merging of the most authoritarian socialist state among the various socialist experiments of the past century with the most predatory capitalist state among the numerous capitalist examples of the past century.
In this way, our unification is the unification of two countries suffering from chronic illnesses.
If two countries were sick, where would they go first? It would be a hospital, not a wedding hall.
Getting married doesn't cure illness, does it?
So, I believe that the unification of the Korean Peninsula must begin with the North and South curing their own chronic illnesses.
The social reality of unification must be to democratize North Korea's authoritarian socialism and simultaneously humanize South Korea's predatory capitalism.

---From "How to Hold Hands Without Getting Hurt"