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Avery Mataka

Phillips

AP Language and Composition

14 December 2018

Work Culture in South Korea

Many American workers complain about their jobs' long hours, and the few times a week

they may clock out after five o'clock. But what if working an excessive amount of hours was

actually killing thousands of people every year? In South Korea, this is a reality (Kwon and

Field). There is even a word for it, gwarosa, which means “death by overwork” in Korean.

According to government data, South Koreans work an average of 240 more hours a year than an

American worker; this is the equivalent of working another month, or thirty days, for eight hours

every day (Lee and May). The idea of overwork as a positive idea stems South Korea’s culture,

in which working long hours is seen as honorable and something for which to strive. However,

these deaths are preventable. In order to save citizens from overwork deaths, South Korea must

overcome the harsh and controlling ideals of its past that put pressure on citizens to work long

hours. It must also enforce a newly enacted law that decreases the maximum number of hours an

employee can work per week. South Korea must also work to increase pay to make up for the

wages from the shorter, and more humane, work week.

In the past, the idea of overworking benefited South Korea, and the pressure put on

citizens today is a result of the fortunate outcomes that resulted many decades ago from those

long hours of work. After the Korean War, a strong work ethic helped "propel the once-rural

country out of the ashes of war and transform it into an economic power" (Field and Kwon). This

caused the idea of overwork to be seen as honorable, especially for a male breadwinner in a
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patriarchal society. While the country's success after the war affected how hard work was

viewed, these ideals can be traced even further back. C. Harrison Kim, an assistant Professor at

the University of Hawaii who specializes in the Koreas, states that "Korean society is framed by

order and hierarchy and this demand to meet expectations" (Kasulis). These societal expectations

have been around for years before the Korean war. For decades, South Korea has had one of the

lowest birth rates in the world. Today, the nation ranks number 220 out of 226 countries in the

world for child births. This is because Korean society pressures women as well as men into

having careers, and therefore choosing their jobs over marriage and starting families. Koreans

consider families with two or more children large for this reason (South). This is evidence that

Korea's idea of overwork and the pressure it puts on its citizens has always had a hold on the

nation, but the consequences are becoming more dire today. Just because something was

beneficial in the past does not necessarily mean the same for the present. Although hard work

helped South Korea in the past, taken to extremes, it is having the opposite effect on the nation

today.

The Korean government has only recently noticed the severity of the hold overwork has

over the nation. In this year alone, the number of deaths caused by gwarosa has spiked into the

thousands. The actual cause of gwarosa deaths are heart attacks, starvation, or car accidents,

caused from being sleep-deprived as a result of working late into the night (Kwon and Field). In

addition to these deaths that are a direct result of work, the pressure of work "plays a role in

more than 500 suicides a year out of a national total of about 14,000" (Lee and May). As shown

by the evidence above, the issue of overwork can no longer be overlooked. Gwarosa is a killer,

so the Korean government must do something to stop it. For these reasons, Korea has issued a

law protecting employees against overwork that will be enforced in 2019.

The Korean government has announced that there will be a new change starting in 2019

to combat these recent deaths. This new law will change the maximum hours an employee can

work per week, from 68 to 52 hours. Although this is a step in the right direction, this law will

not be enforced until next year, to give companies time to adjust to the change (Chan). Another

downside is, the law only requires that companies with 300 employees or more enforce the law

(Kwon and Field), so employees of small businesses could still fall victim to overwork.

However, the number of deaths caused by gwarosa will fall considerably in 2019. Managers of

large companies are deterred from overworking their employees because they face fines of up to

$17,815, and executives could be imprisoned for up to two years (Chan). Faced with these

serious charges, executives will be discouraged from mistreating employees.

Many may argue that this change could harm South Korea, but this is not the case.

Overwork can sometimes lead to increased productivity; however, South Korea is in the bottom

third of OECD's, the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development, list of most

productive countries (Kwon and Field). Even though South Korea works the second longest

hours behind only Mexico, it does not have the results to show for it (Haas). In addition to

preventing thousands of unnecessary deaths, this law has another positive result. The Ministry of

Labor announced that the new law is expected to create an estimated 43,000 new jobs because

companies will be hiring new workers instead of making old ones work extra hours. Not only is

it saving the employed from an early death, it is helping the unemployed population of South

Korea to obtain jobs.

Although this law will create new opportunities for those without jobs, it could

potentially harm citizens who work in manual labor or jobs with unpredictable hours. Many

people in South Korea are now working second, and sometimes even third, jobs as an
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“unintended consequence of a law aimed at capping working hours and giving people more free

time” (Haas). This is the opposite of the intended effect, which is to get people to work less.

This consequence is harming the poorer community of South Korea. Many workers are now

facing wage cuts, and the National Assembly predicts that up to 15,000 workers could lose up to

410,000 won, the equivalent of almost $400, per month while trying to find a living wage (Haas).

To make matters worse, before the law, Koreans had incomes similar to Americans despite

working 240 more hours a year (Lee and May). Now, with the new law, they will be making

even less. The answer to this problem is to make hourly wages higher. People should not be

punished for following a law, and should make enough money to not have to work more jobs

than they had before. If wages are increased, the law will benefit the rich as well as the poor.

There are some problems with the law, but they can be changed so that society as a whole profits.

Kelly Kasulis, a writer from the website Quartz, stated that "If there was a prize for the

most stressed-out nation in the world, South Korea would be a good contender", but it does not

have to be this way anymore. If this law is properly enforced by the Korean government next

year, it could have a hugely beneficial effect on the country and the way its citizens live. This

law could result in fewer deaths and also provide greater benefits for the economy. In addition,

South Korea could move towards becoming a society that is not primarily focused on work, and

more focused on starting families and spending time with loved ones. South Korea's citizens

have been forced to suffer unnecessarily for a years, but this could all end next year.

Works Cited

Chan, Tara Francis. “South Korea Has Limited a Working Week to 52 Hours, in Order to Stop

Overwork.” World Economic Forum, 3 July 2018,

www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/07/south-korea-is-trying-to-stop-overwork-by-limiting-t
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He-maximum-workweek-to-52-hours

Haas, Benjamin. “Life without Evenings: the People Left behind by South Korea's War on

Overwork.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 13 Aug. 2018,

www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/14/life-without-evenings-the-people-left-b

ehind-by-south-koreas-war-on-overwork.

Kasulis, Kelly. “South Korea's Play Culture Is a Dark Symptom of Overwork.” Quartz, Quartz,

31 Dec. 2017,

qz.com/1168746/south-koreas-play-culture-is-a-dark-symptom-of-overwork/.

Kwon, Jake, and Alexandra Field. “Can South Korea Fix Its Deadly Working Culture and Give
People Their Lives Back?” CNN, Cable News Network, 5 Nov. 2018,
www.cnn.com/2018/11/04/asia/korea-working-hours-intl/index.html.
Lee, Su-hyun, and Tiffany May. “Go Home, South Korea Tells Workers, as Stress Takes Its
Toll.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 28 July 2018,
www.nytimes.com/2018/07/28/world/asia/south-korea-overwork-workweek.html.
"South Korea." CultureGrams Online Edition, ProQuest, 2018,

online.culturegrams.com/world/world_country.php?cid=149&cn=South_Korea. Accessed

13 December 2018.