[Insight & Opinion] The Unspoken Truths of Korea

[Asia Economy] We often say that Japanese people have both honne (本音) and tatemae (建前). Honne refers to one's true feelings, while tatemae is the fa?ade shown to others, leading to the perception that their outward appearance and inner thoughts differ. In contrast, Koreans are described as passionate and straightforward. Therefore, even if we fiercely argue on the surface, we pride ourselves on being able to quickly move past it once we share our true feelings and have a glass of soju together.

However, when observing our society, there are many moments when we feel that we are becoming more like Japan. Although everyone is aware of the limits, problems, and contradictions, there is a growing tendency to avoid acknowledging them and instead circle around the issue with ambiguous remarks. People repeat vague claims and outdated arguments disconnected from reality, deliberately turning a blind eye to changes in the real world.

Every time the administration changes, the topic of national pension reform arises, but the core issues never make it to the table. The current pension system is unsustainable. It is based on the premise that the population will continuously grow and the economy will develop, with younger generations supporting older ones, but this structure is rapidly collapsing. The purpose should not be to preserve the pension system itself; rather, discussions on various measures, including dismantling the pension system, must be held to ensure citizens’ retirement security. However, reality falls short of this.

Everyone recognizes the importance of improving agricultural productivity and achieving economies of scale, but there is opposition to capital investment for industrialization. While agriculture in advanced countries is progressing toward automation beyond mechanization, incorporating AI and robotics for unmanned operations, we still consider the small-scale family self-sufficient farming system as the ideal and resist systemic changes for transformation. Supporting rice prices itself should not be the goal; instead, efforts should be made to increase farmers’ incomes and develop agriculture into a proper industry, but fundamental change is not desired.

Everyone acknowledges the importance of improving academic achievement to strengthen public education, but under the pretext of reducing exam burdens, students’ opportunities to be properly evaluated for their learning outcomes are increasingly delayed. In elementary schools without exams, students do not receive proper assessments, and only when they reach the second year of middle school do they face real exams and often get shocked, but by then it is often too late. The majority of students who lack private education and parental support fall behind, yet exams and evaluations are neglected under the fixed notion that they are bad. Efforts to increase the birth rate have clearly failed, and the important issue now is adapting to the era of population decline, but no one talks about it. Although labor shortages are becoming serious, only the fundamental argument to raise the birth rate is repeated. Labor shortages are appearing widely across all sectors of society, but both the government and companies remain stuck in the old mindset that there are plenty of people to choose from.

It is time to move beyond vague slogans and moral imperatives. We must reveal our true feelings and discuss why something should be done and whether it is truly necessary to solve real problems and move forward. We must acknowledge that logic and policies that were valid in the past may no longer be appropriate. We need to break free from the obsession with consistency. Yesterday’s correct answer can become today’s wrong one. Changing one’s views when standing in a different place is not betrayal but a natural evolution.

Choi Jun-young, Specialist, Yulchon LLC

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.