Fast Changing Nature of South Korean Culture

LPG (an acronym for "Long Pretty Girls") is a manufactured girl group from Korea inspired by the success of "semi-trot" singer Jang Yoon-jung. Their name showcases the fact that all four members of this group were pageant participants, with two of them even making it into the Miss Korea pageant.

"Nowadays, thanks to a number of factors, cultures all across the globe are changing faster than ever before, and here in Korea it is no different.The influence from the West via constant technological advances is becoming more and more apparent.

It seems like it is slowly drowning out a variety of cultures worldwide. Korea,on the other hand, although it is apparent that it under the influence of the Western world, seems to be developing and its own unique culture that differs from the rest of the world",Pretty much all forms of popular cultural expressions are Western in origin, even though with some Korean touch.

The music is Western rock and pop, the fashion is international, and the fiction is written in accordance to the conventions which come from the West", stated Dr. Andrei Lankov,an associate professor in the Social Science Department at Kookmin University, who is also a specialist in Korean studies.

It is evident that the Korean society has changed and developed dramatically in modern years, but also the minds and values of youths appear to be different from older generations, too.

Over the past decade or so Korean youth culture has maintained some of the traditional cultural aspects of Korea, but there are some obvious contrasts, that clearly differentiate it from the culture of older Korean generations.

Korean youths are exposed to and experience a much wider variety of influences from across the globe as well as living in a different economy and political climate than their peers.

"Korea was a war-stricken country stuck in poverty not so long ago, but thanks to our grandparents and parents, it has developed into one of the world's richest nowadays. I know that our parents generation had a tough time financially, they put in a lot of effort to develop our economy and I am very grateful for this", said Byoung-hun Park,a KNU Law student from Seoul.

The way in which the current younger Korean generation has developed and transformed has coincided with the rapid growth in its economy over the past few decades.The opportunities offered nowadays are only something that their peers could dream about".The current generation is by far the best educated-some 85% of Korean youths attend college or university.Also, it is the most affluent generation in Korean history.They live in the world of plenty,not much different to the US,but more evenly distributed", said Dr. Lankov.

Korea was always considered to be a conservative country in the past, but nowadays, this does not seem to be the case. Its acceptance of constant change and development is evident and justifies this point.

"Korea is not a conservative country. It changes really fast, and it adjusts fast.Not only technology and economy-everything. Look at the family structure.Just two generations ago it was a traditional patriarchy society-based society, with a high fertility rate (six births per woman in 1960), no divorces, little actual independence for women etc.And now?",added Dr.Lankov.

The rapid increase in the variety of employment options in Korea, has played a role on reduced family sizes according to Jenna,a student of Kyungbook National University",When my parents were young,it was very common for three generations to live together. People wanted to have a lot of children because most people worked as farmers.The bigger the family meant that more people were able to help out". Taking care of one's elders seemed deeply rooted in Confucian tradition, but in recent years this has been on the decline.

One major difference between the current Korean generations is their attitude towards plastic surgery. In the 90s, plastic surgery was considered as a privilege of the wealthy.

Today, it is no longer regarded as a luxury procedure and is commonplace among many younger Korean women. Recently, a survey of two hundred and fifty mothers throughout Korea, conducted by a famous personal care brand (Dove), showed that 25% of moms have suggested plastic surgery for their teenage children.

It seems that the Korean media have a major influence on their younger viewers",A lot of female TV presenters have undergone plastic surgery operations,and present their beauty in order to grab men's attention.In short the reason why it is becoming more and more popular is the constant advancements in technology as well as the influence of the Media", said Byoung-hun Park.

Generally, outside of Korea,plastic surgery among youths is not a social norm. Most Westerners are of the opinion that beauty is not that important, and undergoing an operation to alter your looks is something that is still yet to be accepted as a valid choice.Koreans, on the other hand,have accepted this as part of their lives and its popularity continues to grow especially under the influence of K-Pop bands such as girl group LGP, who last year confessed to having a total of twenty seven plastic surgery operations amongst its members.

"For My Generation,I think it is pretty natural and there's no reason to feel bad. More than 30% of my female friends from my middle school had plastic surgery and they are much prettier now", said a university student of veterinary science from Busan, who wants to remain anonymous.

There has been some adverse effects to the rapid growth in the Korean economy in such a short period of time also. The pressure that Korean children are under to succeed in school is immense,some feel it is too much. Korean parents put so much effort into building a strong economy for their children to grow up in that they want to ensure it is sustained it seems",I think most students in Korea are under a lot of pressure. When I was in High school,I studied for about twelve hours daily. I went to school at 8 a.m. and returned at 9 p.m"., said Jenna. She compares her situation to that of her parents",When my parents were young,the school pressure wasn't that bad,they spent most of their time playing with their friends rather than studying.However,the number of students entering Universities in those days was very low".

If you look at the facts Korean youth culture is changing but it is getting stronger globally: Korean dramas are the most popular in a number of Asian countries.In addition, K-pop has become more recognisable and successful around the world, resulting in widespread interest in the fashion and style of Korean idol groups and singers.

By Kenneth Quillinan
Kyungbook Nat'l Univ. Professor