Protesters claim proposed increase in hours would risk health and fail to boost low birth rate

They were fully prepared to turn the working populace into slave labor and then the government was shocked to see that descision was unpopular.

One thing that catches my eye about this article is that the Guardian specifies “young people” as the cause for the pushback, Gen Z and Millennials, as if everyone else would be perfectly fine working until they fucking die. Just more “Zoomers bad” rhetoric.

  • @ComradeSalad
    27•1 year ago

    South Korea has some of the highest rates of suicide, absolutely no government oversight that isn’t corrupt, is an insanely nepotistic country in regards to jobs, have practically zero workers benefits or protections, the pay is abysmal, and they already work some of the longest hours in the developed world.

    The country would simply cease to exist with a mandatory standard 69 hour work week. The birthrate alone would almost instantly plummet to a little over zero.

    • @PolandIsAStateOfMind
      19•1 year ago

      they already work some of the longest hours in the developed world.

      I think it’s THE longest or it already was few years ago when i checked. Far ahead of Japan, which is usually cited as the worst.

      Btw. Do you know who was the first in EU? Greeks. Yes, the people accused by all reddit and ghoul media of being “lazy”.

      • @Navaryn
        17•1 year ago

        i mean it’s no surprise that under capitalism “hard work” does not pay off, ever. The reward for working more than expected will always be even more work

    • @Shrike502
      16•1 year ago

      South Korea has some of the highest rates of suicide

      Say, do you happen to have statistics on hand for this? My colleague is a Koreaboo (and not for the normal one) and is apparently taking great offense to this notion.

      • @afellowkid
        19•1 year ago

        https://data.oecd.org/healthstat/suicide-rates.htm

        oecd stats

        Korea Herald in 2022: “For Koreans under the age of 40, the most common cause of death is suicide”

        On average, 37 people took their own lives per day in South Korea last year, which is the highest level among the member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

        By age, teenagers, 20-somethings, and people in their 30s had the highest number of suicide deaths. Some 56.8 percent of deaths of those in their 20s were caused by suicide, followed by teenagers (43.7 percent) and 30-somethings (40.6 percent).

        Hankyoreh in 2023: “Rising suicide rates, loneliness put Koreans’ life satisfaction among lowest in OECD”

        Suicide rates among those in their 20s and 70s have increased rapidly […] New figures show that South Koreans have one of the lowest life satisfaction rates among the 38 countries that make up the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Suicide rates have also gone up in the country while the proportion of people saying they have nowhere to turn for help in a crisis has also soared. In addition, the number of older Koreans living alone has also risen while the rate of reported child abuse has also significantly increased.

        (Edit) Here’s another one from Hankyoreh: “Korea: An economic success where everyone is unhappy”

        Despite this tremendous economic and political success, Koreans are becoming increasingly unhappy. Korea’s statistics regarding depression and suicide rates are the highest among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, it also has the lowest total fertility rate, and the labor market is overflowing with workers in unstable employment. With income and asset inequality becoming more and more serious over the past 30 years, inequality has become something far too familiar to Korean citizens.

        • @sinovictorchan
          11•1 year ago

          And the Liberals complained about suicide net in China under an American company…