South Korea’s “Dirt Spoons” Turn on President Moon

Here is an interesting read about South Korea’s “Dirt Spoons” that are baring the effects of the poor economy in South Korea:

The sparse rooms, in premises called goshi-won, were previously mostly used by less well-off students to temporarily cut off from the outside world while they studied for civil service job tests.

Now they are increasingly becoming permanent homes to young people like Hwang, who identifies himself among the “dirt spoons”, those born to low-income families who have all but given up on social mobility.

“If I try hard enough and get a good job, will I ever be able to afford a house?” the 25-year-old said in his small, cluttered room where clothes were piled on the bed. “Will I ever be able to narrow the gap that’s already so big?”

The concept of dirt spoons and gold spoons, as those from better-off families are known, have been around for many years but exploded onto the political scene in recent years, undercutting support for liberal President Moon Jae-in.

Moon came to power in 2017 on a platform of social and economic justice, yet halfway through his five-year term, he has little progress to show the country’s youth who have borne the brunt of deepening inequality.

Reuters

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