Panda's Art Gallery by Sarang Design | Korean American Designer

[Mety]

K-pop might not be the only factor of people losing faith there. It could be one of the reasons as the media tend to mess you up with wrong/fake information all the time. Even pastors at television/media are giving wrong gospel messages many times. Not every pastor is doing that, but you can surely see how they're doing that not for the cause of the gospel but for the popularity and money. They might say more popular you get, more people they can preach to, but I don't see that kind of strategy used in Bible at all. Jesus never did that and never told His disciples to do that either. In fact, when His disciples tried to do that, Jesus stopped, rebuked, and prevented that to happen.

Fake news will always be there for us. Wrongful media will always be popular. But I believe when countries like S. Korea or even European countries who once had such huge influence of faith are losing faith because of lack of Biblical teaching and knowledge that can sustain their faith altogether. Parents are not teaching that value to their kids. Instead, they're teaching them to become "financially stable" more than anything by their words and also by their life style. This is exactly what Jesus warned. He said God knows your needs, therefore seek His Kingdom first, THEN all these things you need (money, food, clothes) will be given to you. What is seeking His Kingdom? It's simply seeking who Jesus is and follow His love. How do you do that? Read the Holy Bible first and ask God to transform you. This is where it takes faith. But as generations go by, people lost that value to pass on to their kids. Israel lost that value in God as the Scripture clearly tells and the same thing is happening to these countries. Suicide being one of the results. US is not an exempt.

The world was, is, and always will be dark. The only way out is by putting your faith in Jesus. Other ways might seem like it's getting you out for awhile, but eventually will betray you. S. Korea will recover from its decline of faith ONLY IF they treasure the Word of God again. I believe they once did. Will it happen again? Israel hasn't recovered. Europe hasn't either. Only God knows...

 

[freedomcm]

I've read about the super low birthrate in SK. Are Korean-Americans more fecund?

 

[zubs]

nice doves!

 

[Liar Loan]

South Korea is currently facing a population crisis. The marriage numbers are below what they were in 1976 and current birth rate in South Korea is lowest in the World. As a Korean American, i am saddened by this.

I'm a big believer that people respond exactly to the incentives that you give them.

Why South Korean women aren't having babies​

"Minji" wanted to share her experience, but not publicly. She is not ready for her parents to know she will not be having children. "They will be so shocked and disappointed," she said, from the coastal city of Busan, where she lives with her husband.

Minji confided that her childhood and 20s had been unhappy.

"I've spent my whole life studying," she said - first to get into a good university, then for her civil servant exams, and then to get her first job at 28.

She remembers her childhood years spent in classrooms until late at night, cramming maths, which she loathed and was bad at, while she dreamed of being an artist.

"I've had to compete endlessly, not to achieve my dreams, but just to live a mediocre life," she said. "It's been so draining."

Only now, aged 32, does Minji feel free, and able to enjoy herself. She loves to travel and is learning to dive.

But her biggest consideration is that she does not want to put a child through the same competitive misery she experienced.

"Korea is not a place where children can live happily," she has concluded.

Why South Korean women aren't having babies

South Korea has spent billions to reverse its low birth rate, but some say it isn't listening to young women’s needs.

www.bbc.com

 

[Liar Loan]

These are shocking statistics. Only 28% of SK women are in favor of marriage.

South Korean marriages down by 40% in just 10 years​

The number of marriages recorded in 2023 was 193,673 while it was 322,807 in 2013 – which shows a decrease of 40 per cent within a decade.

Another alarming trend, according to the survey, was the sharp fall in second births, which dropped to 91,700 in 2023 – the first time this number has gone below 100,000. This decline is part of a broader trend of decreasing fertility, with the number of second and subsequent births having plummeted by 40 per cent since 2018.

Breaking it down by gender, 43.8 per cent of men were in favour of marriage, in contrast to 28 per cent of women – a significant decline from the previous rates of 66.1 per cent for men and 46.9 per cent for women.

In 2021, a striking 97.1 per cent of children in South Korea were born within wedlock, a rate significantly higher than the OECD average of 60 per cent, as per Hankyoreh Shimbun. This means that there is a direct correlation between marriage rates and birth rates in the country, highlighting how changes in the former directly impact the latter.

South Korean marriages crash 40% in just 10 years

In 2023, country sees about 190,000 couples tying the knot, with those opting for marriage also having fewer children

www.independent.co.uk

 

[Liar Loan]

@Liar Loan, Yes it is sad news that South Korean marriages are down 40% in just 10 years and currently has the lowest birthrate in the world. What does Panda do when he gets sad? He designs.

It seems like something within the culture or government needs to change. What do you think the solution is?

 

[Liar Loan]

I think this is more of spiritual issue vs an economic one. Less than 20% of the South Korean single between the ages of 20-39 believe in Jesus or call themselves Christians. These percentages are very different in the mid 1990s.

I think this is interesting because I tend to think of Korean-Americans as a strongly religious community, so I assumed that would be the case in S. Korea as well. I believe religiosity is highly correlated with birth rates worldwide, and is the reason countries like the US, France, and Ireland have relatively higher birth rates than other Western nations, although they have still been coming in below the replacement rate of 2.1 in recent years.

 

[OCtoSV]

@Liar Loan,

The media says this is caused due to economic / financial reasons. I think that is only 20% of the story. Marriages in South Korea start to decline since Kpop music was introduced to the young generation of South Korea in 1992.

I think this is more of spiritual issue vs an economic one. Less than 20% of the South Korean single between the ages of 20-39 believe in Jesus or call themselves Christians. These percentages are very different in the mid 1990s. The median age for marriage was 27-28 for men and 24-25 for women back then. Today the average South Korean men gets married at 33-34 and 31-32 for women. These are the highest median age averages for all of Asia.

There is also a rise in Feminist movement that started to gain popularity in 2015 which caused a lot of tension between Men and Women, attacking Marriages and Families in South Korea.

I think you're on to something though it isn't solely spiritual. Atheists marry too but what are the factors diminishing the drive to marry? Is SK seeing a similar epidemic of low testosterone that we're witnessing with the younger generation here, driven by too much vegetarianism, stress and lack of physical activity?

 

[zubs]

People don't wanna have kids, because it's become way too expensive and way too stressful.
To get into UC Irvine these days require the following:

$6,000 per year volleyball club
$85 per hour music lessons
$500 per month KUMON
$10,000 for college counselor so their chances of getting into college goes up.
Thousands of dollars in university summer schools.

So why would anyone wanna have a kid...or even 2?

It's the weaponization of education.
Educational Industrial Complex.

It's why I'm against education.

If you're not paying for this shit, someone else is doing it...and your kid has now fallen behind.

 

[Imnotmoving]

@Liar Loan,

The media says this is caused due to economic / financial reasons. I think that is only 20% of the story. Marriages in South Korea start to decline since Kpop music was introduced to the young generation of South Korea in 1992.

I think this is more of spiritual issue vs an economic one. Less than 20% of the South Korean single between the ages of 20-39 believe in Jesus or call themselves Christians. These percentages are very different in the mid 1990s. The median age for marriage was 27-28 for men and 24-25 for women back then. Today the average South Korean men gets married at 33-34 and 31-32 for women. These are the highest median age averages for all of Asia.

There is also a rise in Feminist movement that started to gain popularity in 2015 which caused a lot of tension between Men and Women, attacking Marriages and Families in South Korea.

The comment on feminism is interesting. It seems very 1950’s.