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From a youth perspective, it highlights enduring discrepancies between rich and poor, old and young, men and women, and global and local dynamics. The analysis links these patterns to Korea’s “double-compressed modernity,” rooted in colonial legacy, post-war top-down modernization, and condensed neoliberal transition.",{"@graph":69,"@context":123},[70,84,106],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/hell-joseon-tales-from-a-south-korean-youth-trapped-between-past-and-present/135843/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/hell-joseon-tales-from-a-south-korean-youth-trapped-between-past-and-present/135843.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Berry Peter","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-20","2026-08-21",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":105},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",11,{"@type":107,"mainEntity":108},"FAQPage",[109,115,119],{"name":110,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":112},"What is the main focus of the “Hell Joseon” thesis?","Question",{"text":113,"@type":114},"The thesis studies how South Korean youth use the term “Hell Joseon” to describe life today and to compare it with the pre-modern Joseon Dynasty.","Answer",{"name":116,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":117},"What characteristics define life in “Hell Joseon” from the youth perspective?",{"text":118,"@type":114},"Life in “Hell Joseon” is marked by sharp discrepancies across class, age, gender, and the tension between global and local life.",{"name":120,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":121},"How does the thesis explain the roots of “Hell Joseon” as a social condition?",{"text":122,"@type":114},"It attributes the phenomenon to Korea’s “double-compressed modernity,” shaped by colonial legacy, post-war top-down modernization, and a rapid neoliberal economic transition.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":125,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":127,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":129,"site_id":62},135843,1787323783,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":132},{"doc_id":129,"user_id":133,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":134,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":135,"file_id":136,"file_url":137,"file_type":138,"file_size":139,"view_count":105,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":140,"language":141,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":142,"faqs":143,"seo_title":144,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":130,"read_time":145},1374402524268,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","LUND UNIVERSITY • CENTRE FOR EAST AND SOUTH-EAST ASIAN STUDIES  \n‘Hell Joseon’  \n-Tales from a South Korean Youth Trapped Between Past and Present  \nAuthor: Johan Cornelis Schoonhoven  \nSupervisor: Erik Mobrand  \nMaster’s Programme in Asian Studies Spring semester 2017  \nAbstract  \nThis thesis takes its outset in the newly coined expression ‘Hell Joseon’ used by the youth in South Korea. ‘Hell Joseon’ is a comparison between today’s society and the pre-modern Joseon Dynasty. By asking “what are the main characteristics of life in ‘Hell Joseon’ from a youth perspective?”, I arrive at the following conclusion. Life in ‘Hell Joseon’ is highly characterized by discrepancies between rich and poor, old and young, men and women, global and local. This is a peculiar result of Korea’s double-compressed modernity which derives from a colonial legacy, top-down modernization in the post-war era and condensed transition to a neoliberal world economy, also known as the second modernity. Therefore, traditional and (post)modern elements coexist in Korea’s society, and is partly the reason why the youth are now drawing references to the pre-modern Joseon Dynasty. Life in ‘Hell Joseon’ thus implies frustrations over high unemployment rates, a new‘spoon class’class division, lack of social mobility, an education fever and a downright “gender war”. More than that, it shows traces of apathy in the fact that the young generation is giving up marriage, children, jobs, hope, housing etc., but also traces of transformation since the ‘Hell Joseon’discourse have made the youth take it to the streets, last seen in the mass demonstrations against now impeached President Park Geun-hye. Furthermore, ‘Hell Joseon’ rejects the conventional paradigm of development through nationalism and economic growth, in favour of more liberal modernization giving space for life-work balance and self-realization.  \nKeywords:  \nCompressed modernity, Hell Joseon, Youth, South Korea, Modernization, Inequality, Gender  \nAcknowledgements  \nOn a sunny November day at campus, just before noon, a young male student jumps out the window on 7th floor of the business department building at Konkuk University. In his bag, he leaves a brief note saying “Iwant to take a deep sleep now”.–Seoul, 2013.  \nI dedicate my thesis to this young man, and the many other young South Koreans who every year end their lives too soon, to find peace from stress, despair and confusion.  \nTable of Contents  \nAbstract ........................................................................................................................................ 2  \nKeywords:..................................................................................................................................... 2  \nAcknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... 3  \n1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 6  \n1.1 Aim and research question: ................................................................................................ 6  \n1.2 Statement of purpose: ......................................................................................................... 7  \n2. Research design ........................................................................................................................ 7  \n2.1 Epistemological considerations: .......................................................................................... 8  \n2.2 Methodology ....................................................................................................................... 9  \n2.2.1 Semi structured qualitative interviews ............................................................................... 10  \n2.2.2 Ethical considerations .....................................................................................................","cbCaifGeqdqrgEiO","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaifGeqdqrgEiO","pdf",1348631,188,"English","# Abstract\n# Keywords\n# Acknowledgements\n# 1. Introduction\n## Aim and research question\n## Statement of purpose\n# 2. Research design\n## Epistemological considerations\n## Methodology\n### Semi structured qualitative interviews\n### Ethical considerations\n### Limitations\n# 3. BACKGROUND\n## From a “hell-hole of foreign assistance” to “miraculous” development\n## An ontology of multiple modernities\n# 4. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK\n## Compressed modernity in Korea\n## Compressed modernity in the making-Eastern spirit, Western body\n## From hopes of a liberal subject to the birth of the neoliberal subject\n## Second modernity and reflexive cosmopolitization\n## A double-compressed modernity in Korea?\n# 5. ANALYSIS OF A LIFE IN ‘HELL JOSEON’ FROM A YOUTH PERSPECTIVE\n## Chapter 1: The many faces of ‘Hell Joseon’\n## Chapter 2: Inequality in Korea – The ‘one shot society’ they call ‘Hell Joseon’\n## Chapter 3: Education fever – choosing the right track in ‘Hell Joseon’\n## Chapter 4: ‘Gold spoons’ and ‘dirt spoons’ - a class theory in the making","[{\"question\":\"What is the main focus of the “Hell Joseon” thesis?\",\"answer\":\"The thesis studies how South Korean youth use the term “Hell Joseon” to describe life today and to compare it with the pre-modern Joseon Dynasty.\"},{\"question\":\"What characteristics define life in “Hell Joseon” from the youth perspective?\",\"answer\":\"Life in “Hell Joseon” is marked by sharp discrepancies across class, age, gender, and the tension between global and local life.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the thesis explain the roots of “Hell Joseon” as a social condition?\",\"answer\":\"It attributes the phenomenon to Korea’s “double-compressed modernity,” shaped by colonial legacy, post-war top-down modernization, and a rapid neoliberal economic transition.\"}]","Hell Joseon - Tales from a South Korean Youth Trapped Between Past and Present | PDF",474]