Korea’s Disaffected Youth
Korea was shocked this January when news reports came in that ‘Kim’, an 18 year old Korean teen who had gone missing in Turkey, was likely to have crossed the border to Syria in order to join the militant rebel group ISIS. Before Kim’s defection to ISIS, the threat of the rebels may have seemed like something that the people living on the Korean Peninsula need not worry about as it was operating far from their borders. Kim’s show of allegiance to ISIS should be a wakeup call to South Korea that disaffected and isolated teens in the country may be vulnerable to the lures of extremist groups around the world.
Before his trip to Turkey, Kim had dropped out of school and although this is not entirely the norm for a Korean teen, it is by no means unique. In fact, according to data released by the Ministry of Education in 2013, there were a total of 68,188 dropouts in circumstances not too dissimilar to Kim in 2012. However, according to the Chosun Ilbo, these statistics failed to account for an estimated 280,000 students who fell through the cracks and were missed by the officially released statistics . The reasons for Korean teens to drop out of the schooling system are varied, but often boil down to instances of school violence and bullying, combined with the stresses young Koreans face trying to perform to the extremely high standards expected of them by both their family and the system itself.
The real issue begins after Korean teenagers dropout from the school system, as there is very little support available to them and very little hope for success in today’s hyper competitive job market. Many young Korean graduates will comment that it is difficult enough to find a stable, full-time job even with a University degree, let alone without even having obtained a high school diploma. While alternatives for dropouts are available, such as schools that allow students to learn and graduate at their own pace in a more relaxed environment, in a country where around 80% of high school graduates continue on to university; simply graduating is often not enough.
Without future prospects and lacking a proper support network to ensure they are guided in the right direction, a number of youths become isolated and in turn resort to crime. According to the Korea Herald, police data suggests that of 424,611 juveniles arrested between 2010 and mid-2014, 40% were school dropouts . Taking this into consideration, the threat of more “Kims" appearing in Korean society is not outside the realm of possibility. In fact, following the publication of news reports concerning Kim, his Twitter page saw a remarkable increase in followers; growing up to fivefold according to reports from the JoongAng Daily . Some of those new followers even went out of their way to contact ISIS-linked accounts with whom Kim had previously held correspondence with, verbalising their desire to join the terrorist group. This has sparked worries that ISIS may utilise Kim as an example in order to gain more support from young Koreans.
In the short term, it would appear that support needs to be given to vulnerable youths in order to prevent a similar situation occurring again, both in terms of counselling and guidance as well as financial support for the unemployed. However, more importantly it may be time to consider a long term solution to increase the happiness and satisfaction of youths in Korea. This could entail adjustments to the school system and reevaluation of the importance of University degrees versus firsthand work experience, while also ensuring there is a safety net for young Koreans to fall back on in times of unemployment or financial difficulty.
- by Asia Society Korea Center's Contributing Writer Kaspar Spencer