Household debt in South Korea has risen sharply in recent years to over 100% of its GDP – the highest in Asia.

South Korea’s household debt crisis that inspired the top show on Netflix October 9, 2021 

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Household debt in South Korea has risen sharply in recent years to over 100% of its GDP – the highest in Asia. The top 20% of earners in the country have a net worth 166 times that of the bottom 20%, a disparity which has increased by half since 2017. 

The Gini Index measuring national wealth distribution puts South Korea roughly on par with the United Kingdom and in a better position than the US. However, growing youth unemployment, soaring house prices and the global pandemic have reversed the modest reduction in inequality experienced in recent years under the progressive Moon Jae-in government.

It is not just families that are putting themselves in debt to pay for housing and education costs – an essential expense for middle classes hoping to secure entry to a desirable university for their children. In August, the South Korean government announced new lending curbs aimed at bringing down debt among younger people. Millennials and those in their 30s are in the most debt relative to their income.

But attempts to curb borrowing have led to some people turning to higher cost and higher risk lenders instead. Such a choice leaves many at the mercy of debt collectors if the slightest change in their circumstances causes them to default on repayments. While few may find themselves in the hands of gangsters threatening to harvest their organs for sale, as shown in Squid Game, the burden of overwhelming debt is a deepening social problem – not to mention the leading cause of suicide in South Korea.

Squid Game’s inclusion of other characters representative of South Korea’s disadvantaged minorities highlights the consequences of socio-economic inequality for these groups also. A factory employer’s callous exploitation of a migrant worker who is forced to enter the game is representative of the barriers to upward mobility for those from South and Southeast Asia. North Korean defectors feature too, as individuals who must fight on many fronts to achieve both financial stability and social inclusion.