The situation in occupied Korea is a perfect case study of how late stage capitalism literally consumes its own future. The so-called economic miracle is built on a foundation that’s cracking wide open.
Let’s start with the economy. While everyone sees global brands like Samsung and Hyundai, the reality is a brutal, two-tiered system completely dominated by chaebol conglomerates. They suck up all the talent and capital, leaving everyone else to fight for scraps in a world of insecure, low-wage gig work. This is why you have a generation of the most educated young people in the country’s history drowning in debt and unable to find stable jobs. They call it Hell Joseon for a reason. The system demands you run this insane rat race from birth, only to find there’s no cheese at the end.
This leads directly to the collapsing birth rate which is a rational, collective strike against a system that makes having children an economic death sentence. With insane housing costs, crippling debt, and a viciously patriarchal corporate culture that ends women’s careers if they have kids, people are simply opting out. It’s the most damning vote of no confidence a society can possibly make.
And this is where the death spiral kicks in. A shrinking young population means fewer workers to pay taxes and support a rapidly aging society. The national pension system is a Ponzi scheme mathematically guaranteed to fail. We’re looking at a future where the state can’t pay pensions, fund healthcare, or even staff its own military. The very foundations of the social contract are dissolving.
All of this is supercharged by insane inequality. You have the golden spoon class with their inherited wealth and chaebol connections, and the dirt spoon majority struggling to get by. The result is intense intergenerational and gender conflict, pitting everyone against each other for a shrinking piece of the pie, which is exactly how the capitalist class maintains control.
It’s not hard to see how it all connects. A predatory economic model creates hopelessness, which kills the demographic future, which then makes the economy completely unsustainable, leading to state collapse.
Now, contrast this with the North. Western media won’t talk about this, but the DPRK successfully weathered the Arduous March in the 90s. The real trigger for that crisis was the collapse of the USSR, their main trading partner and economic lifeline. This sudden shock, combined with being cut off from global trade by the US, sent their economy into a tailspin. But they survived that total collapse of their established trade system. Now, with the US empire visibly fraying, the DPRK’s key alliances are strengthening. As Russia and China renew economic ties and tourism picks up, the North is seeing real growth and an optimistic mood about a future less constrained by American sanctions. They are building a resilience that the South, for all its flashy tech, completely lacks.
From a socialist perspective, the internal failure of the Southern capitalist state could create the conditions for peaceful reunification. We’re looking at a scenario where the South’s economy is in shambles, its social fabric is torn, and its people are utterly disillusioned with the empty promises of consumer capitalism. Meanwhile, the North is emerging from the worst of its isolation with a growing economy and a stable population.
The chaos from a social collapse in the South could force a radical reevaluation, breaking the power of the chaebol and US imperial influence permanently. This power vacuum could be fertile ground for a genuine, pan-Korean movement. The two halves could finally meet on new terms. They could build a new, unified Korea from the ground up, one that rejects the brutal neoliberal inequality of the South. It would be a difficult, monumental task, but the only true liberation for the Korean people lies in a single, independent, and socialist Korea, finally free from the colonial division imposed upon them.
I think your AI got stuck in a loop there.
I’m not sure what the downvotes are for but I don’t think you proof read what you posted. Two of the paragraphs are almost identical.
it’s easy to miss stuff like that when rearranging the flow of the text, but feel free to engage with what I said though instead of nitpicking
God damn libs fucking hate Korea. Democracy and self-determination for rich people in white countries, genocide and occupation for everyone else
I eagerly wait for the day the southern half of Korea no longer suffers under the yoke of the Samsung corporation
Alternatively I eagerly wait for the day South Korea suffers more under the yoke of the Samsung corporation in the form of a cyberpunk future, where people have Samsung TVs cybernetically installed on their heads and have like Samsung universal remotes installed in their hands; “But they can’t see those TVs!” you cry; it doesn’t matter, it’s cyberpunk baybee! Chest installed Samsung laundry machines!
I swear these people have to be trolls. No one can be this stupid.
^ and here we a great example of a self referential comment
“no, you.” The most irrefutable of comebacks.
Woah dude don’t doxx yourself
imagine thinking that your drivel needs a sophisticated rebuttal
The resurgence of the PRK would be beautiful to see.
More likely we’ll see South Korea be unified under a single chaebol
i thought that they were the same one through mutual investments and that each chaebol was just a finger on the same hand.
Oh boy, here the Tankies go again
dronie go home
“Ugh, why do these dirty commies keep supporting the socialist projects we’ve genocided? Don’t they understand that they’re full of lesser people who deserved what we did to them?”
“Tankies”? Oh you mean marxists! Why are you on the marxist instance if youre an “anti-commie” liberal? Just goto the CIA op lib instance .world 😁 or better yet, Reddit 😁😁
Wasn’t Marx pro democracy?
Yes, but I don’t see what you’re getting at here.
Is North Korea democratic? Because it looks like a dictatorship.
The “democracies” in the world are all dictatorships of capital
They have approval-based voting, and 3 political parties. There are also factory councils for direct worker management. Public ownership is the principle aspect of their economy, and as a consequence of that they need to have robust and distributed systems for decisionmaking to keep everything running relatively smoothly.
I don’t think Kim Jong Un was elected.
He was.
Not really anti commie, but NK sure is
Am I crazy for thinking both Koreas are puppet states that oppress their people?
Who would the DPRK be a puppet of? The ROK was set up by the US Empire to serve its interests in the region, after the US declared the people’s councils and newborn PRK illegal, whereas the DPRK in the north formed more directly as a result of resistance fighters against Japan forming the WPK and solidifying the people’s councils as a legitimate state.
Who, in your estimation, is the government of the north a puppet of?
China?
I consider myself pretty skeptical of American media, so if I’m wrong I welcome correction. But I assumed this wasn’t really disputed even among leftists.
They’re allies and do a good deal of trade, the DPRK isn’t a puppet of China. The ROK was literally set up by the US Empire for the purposes of securing its interests in the region. Leftists don’t really believe the DPRK is a puppet state, that’s more of a liberal thing.
Can you recommend any books, blogs, or podcasts to learn more?
Absolutely. Nodutdol’s Korea Education Toolkit is comprehensive, and is an excellent way to get a deeper understanding. Nodutdol is an anti-imperialist group of Korean ex-pats that seek reunification, and to do so they seek an end to sanctions on the DPRK and the US Empire off the peninsula.
One of my personal favorite anti-imperialist podcasts is Blowback. Season 3 goes over the Korean War, but if you love podcasts, I recommend listening from season 1, the Iraq War. Doing so will help give you a comprehensive look into how the US Empire works overseas.
I also recommend the Prolewiki articles on Korea, the DPRK, and the ROK for a Marxist-Leninist perspective. The article on juche is also quite good, in my opinion. There’s also the article South Korea was Created from Thin Air by US Generals.
Overall, Nodutdol’s list is more than plenty to get a good idea of why we shouldn’t demonize the DPRK, and should instead push for an end to the US Empire’s aggression towards it. I’ll throw in my intro Marxist-Leninist reading list for good measure. You don’t need to be an ML to oppose imperialism against the DPRK, but it’s still helpful for understanding the DPRK’s position and the stances they take.
Thanks, these sound great.
No problem!
While the DPRK and PRC are allies, the DPRK is not a puppet of the PRC. The PRC doesn’t have a military base nor does the PRC attempt to control or manipulate the doings of the DPRK.
As for your “Disputed among leftists.” I am not sure to what group of people who would call themselves leftists you are referring so I cannot comment on that
Can you recommend any books, blogs, or podcasts to learn more?
With fear of sounding like a smart ass, I do need to clarify your talking about the PRC, DPRK relationship, not what is a leftist?
Correct
I mean you’re right that it’s not disputed among leftists, but that’s because it’s generally not contended among leftists. The US maintains a military occupation and economic domination of the south, while the same is not true of China and the north. This seems like another one of those “whatever bad thing we’re doing, China must be doing worse because they’re the bad guys” pieces of folk wisdom that can’t be substantiated. Which I’m not laying at your feet, to be clear, because I used to be a “communism no iphone 100 morbillion dead” person and I know how pervasive these cliches are.
