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The main story of 2023 in South Korea was that another year passed with no progress towards addressing the country’s biggest issues. Young South Koreans continue to achieve world-beating levels of education only to find themselves in their mid-twenties with scant future prospects. Childhood is dominated by a centralised competition for university slots that no longer produce the livelihoods they once promised.
Youth unemployment is a symptom, but the problem runs deeper. Sky-high housing prices make a…