 |
By Kim Ji-soo
A recent series of incidents is raising a red flag about the rising tide of rage in South Korea, a country where some 51 million live under hyper-competition in all aspects of life, including education and housing.
On Sunday, police in Chungju, North Chungcheong Province, said they were questioning a 55-year-old man for stabbing an internet services repair man multiple times June 16 over his slow internet speed.
The incident follows the shocking death of a 46-year-old man surnamed Kim in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province, who died while he painted a 15-story-high apartment building June 8. A 41-year-old resident surnamed Seo said he was annoyed by the loud music Kim was playing and used an industrial cutter to cut the rope anchored to the roof of the apartment building. Seo later apologized, saying he committed the crime after drinking. Kim left behind a family of five children, his wife and his mother.
"There were seven lives hanging on that rope," said Kwak Keum-joo, professor of psychology at Seoul National University. "Korean society has gotten too materialistic, where everything is measured by economic success or material things, and the sense of relative depravity is making people feel left behind."
Stress and rage are mounting in this environment, she said.
Individuals may suffer from the inability to control their anger, but she sees it as a spreading of anger throughout society, where a growing number of people easily get angry, irritated by a deepening sense of victimization.
"It is the after-effect of Korea's compressed growth to get to where we are now," Kwak said.
"Individuals have made personal sacrifices to obtain the current level of prosperity through excessive competition, including lacking personality, character and mental maturity. Thus, every situation seems like a confrontation or a battle between generations, between men and women, between the old and young," Kwak said. "We need a shift in how we measure success and the middle class."
She pointed out how France's 1962-68 President Georges Pompidou described the middle class as having the ability to speak one foreign language, play one musical instrument, invite a guest over for a meal and do services for the community.
Korea used to be famous for its personal safety. But now, many people believe rage seems prevalent on the streets, between neighbors and just toward one another.
Yoon Dae-hyun, a professor of psychiatry at Seoul National University, explained the series of rage-prompted crimes as frustration leading to aggression through displacement, meaning people may target others. "When life doesn't go as planned and one is feeling frustrated and aggressive, some people tend to lash out toward another," he said.
He also added that the feeling of aggression can turn inward.
"If you find yourself angry, watch the sense of anger for a day," Yoon said. If a person must express anger, one should be specific about what they are angry about, he explained.
On a related note, more people are taking to coloring books or playing mobile games that are specifically about bashing their bosses. Also, a "Seoul Rage Room" has opened near Hongik University area where clients can break things in the room set up with dishes or electronic gadgets.
Kim Jong-woo, a professor of Oriental medicine at the Department of Psychiatry at Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong, said the incident in Yangsan had specific features — the assailant had a history of mental illness and was under the influence of alcohol at the time he committed the crime. Police said the man in Chungju may be suffering from delusional disorder. But Kim said by pointing out individual cases, society may be shying away from its responsibility.
"Our society needs to grow to a point where people will no longer feel other people are earning money easily, for example through the money or other forms of assets they already have," Kim said. Kim added there is a tendency worldwide where people are feeling left behind, as economic and social growth is being fueled mostly by capital, rather than labor, but Korean society needs to ease its hierarchical structure and winner-take-all culture.
"We need to let go of our tendency to hold on to what we have, instead of sharing or donating," Kim said.
Kwak said people are also vulnerable to the "positivity" effect. "Look at how people are driving the donations online for the family of the victim in the Yangsan incident. We need to remind and recall this (collective) empathy in our society," she said. Kwak also said that degrees of differing treatment are also possible for those dealing with overwhelming stress or rage.
![[INTERVIEW] 'Now is time for Koreans to unlock potential in Africa'](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/9236a17d88ea472b862b237c9788069d.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
![[INTERVIEW] Meet the man behind giant rubber ducks that once took over Seoul](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/df32c60c8204448e98ccdb9841366bec.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
