{"id":179,"date":"2018-06-21T07:09:19","date_gmt":"2018-06-21T14:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/misaeng\/?p=179"},"modified":"2018-06-24T13:27:33","modified_gmt":"2018-06-24T20:27:33","slug":"misaeng-%eb%af%b8%ec%83%9d-episodes-16-17-overworking-korea-written-by-michelle-nicole-whiteley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/misaeng\/2018\/06\/21\/misaeng-%eb%af%b8%ec%83%9d-episodes-16-17-overworking-korea-written-by-michelle-nicole-whiteley\/","title":{"rendered":"Misaeng (\ubbf8\uc0dd) episodes 16 &17: \u201cOverworking Korea\u201d (Written by: Michelle Nicole Whiteley)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Synopsis:<\/strong><\/p>\n

[episode 16]<\/strong> Geu-rae, Young-yi and Baek-ki have worked hard to submit their own business proposals. However, office politics threatens all their hard work. Meanwhile, Seok-yul deals with a conflict between factory workers and his boss, Assistant Manager Sung Joon-sik.<\/p>\n

[episode 17]<\/strong> Sun Ji-young is working overtime on a difficult project, without the support of her subordinates. This causes her to collapse. Oh Sang-sik comes to her aid, along with Geu-rae, Young-yi, Seok-yul, and Baek-ki, in order to help her finish her project. Meanwhile, Kim Dong-sik defends his choice, in working for Oh Sang-sik (despite the risk of never being promoted), against his work peers.<\/p>\n

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There are many ramifications for countriesthat overwork its citizen<\/span>s with inhumanely long hours. According to various sources, South Koreans (hereafter Koreans) who are overworked tend\u00a0<\/span>to suffer from various social ills such as: workplace bullying, low productivity, high industrial accident rates, low birth\u00a0<\/span>ra<\/span>te, etc. They are also many at risk for health issues including mental illness. This has resulted in high suicide rates and \u2018kwarosa.\u2019\u2018Kwarosa\u2019 (\uacfc\ub85c\uc0ac) is the term for the phenomenon in Korea where employees are \u2018overworked to death.\u2019 Victims of \u2018kwarosa\u2019 often suffer \u201cfrom overwork-induced heart attacks, strokes and men<\/span>tal illness\u201d(Bentley, 2013).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

According to the results of the 2016 OECD (The Organization for Econ<\/span>omic Co-operation and Development) survey, Korea ranks second for largest average of hours worked annually, just behind Me<\/span>xico. In this paper, I will look into the practice of \u2018overwork\u2019 in Korean society and h<\/span>ow it is represented in episode 16 and 17 of Misaeng.<\/span><\/p>\n

As mentioned above, there are lots of negative affects of over<\/span>work<\/span>. Yet even, Oh Sang-shik, whom is portrayed as the moral compass of One International, made the comment to a hospitaliz<\/span>ed Sun Ji-young that she should \u201cget rest and work twice as hard when [shes] out.\u201d(Misaeng, 46:17)To me, this demonstrates how ingrained the practice of overwork is in Korean society. Which raises the question: \u2018Why d<\/span>o Koreans continue to overwor<\/span>k themselves?\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the major reasons is Korea\u2019s history. After the Korean War (1950-1953), Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world. However, after the implementation of some extreme economicpolicies by Korean President Park Chung-Hee (1917-1979) and the hard work of many Koreans<\/span>,<\/span>the economy grew. During this time, working long hours was glorified by the government and was seen as the right course to economic su<\/span>ccess.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the ways Koreans made moneyat the<\/span>time was by sending workers to other countries for cheap labour. Thats why in 1964, President Park Chung-Hee visited Korean workers in Germany, and was quoted to have said:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough we are undergoing this trying time, we are not supposed to pass poverty onto our descendants. We must do our part to end poverty in Korea so that the next generation doesn’t e<\/span>xperience w<\/span>hat we are going through now.\u201d (Kang, 2013)<\/span><\/p>\n

His words are quite repr<\/span>esentative of the opinions of the majority of K<\/span>orea<\/span>ns, at the time. Today, these selfless actions by Korean workers, has had a deep rooted affect on the Korean psyche. Especially because their actions proved fruitful. As according to the World Bank, Korea\u2019s GDP (gross domestic\u00a0<\/span>prod<\/span>uct) went from 3,957.87 million in 1960 to 1,411,245.59 trillion in 201<\/span>6. The obvious suc<\/span>ce<\/span>ss shown by Korea\u2019s massive cha<\/span>nge in GD<\/span>P proves to many Kore<\/span>ans that overwork is the right path to success.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Another major reason for Korea\u2019s resistance against limiting work hours, is Korea\u2019s ingrained hierarchal system. Even though Korean workers have a set work schedule it often becomes irrelevant, as it is seen as inappropriate to leave before your superiors. Therefore, if your boss is working late, you are working late. Even if you have finished your work. An example of this, appears in an article in Korea Joongang Daily, when a 35 year old employee of an engineering company in Seoul said that:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne day I ran across a high-ranking official in the elevator on my way home. He asked me why I was leaving the office early. He made me speechless because it was ten past 6\u201440 minutes past official working hours.\u201d (Sung, 2010)<\/span><\/p>\n

This just showcases that those who go against this practice of hierarchal respect are frowned upon in Korea. Often, employees use this \u2018custom\u2019 of staying long hours to impress management in order to receive a promotion.<\/p>\n

And finally Korean companies worry that changing the practice of overwork, will effect their bottom line. Specifically it will result in, them losing money in order to keep up with regular pro<\/span>duction rates. This belief is validated by the popular myth that overwork increases produc<\/span>tion. Which some studies have stated is only true for short periods of time and that actually, extended long working hours creates lower productivity. Yet some businesses still buy int<\/span>o the myth, and fear low productivity. This fear is than shared with the Korean government as they do not want t<\/span>o risk angering company owners and cause economic ruin for Korea.<\/span><\/p>\n

Those that suffer the most from the negative effects of overwork are usually postal workers, working mothers, and industrial workers. According to the Korean Times, postal workers, on average work \u201c48.7 hours a week \u20148.7 hours more than the national standard.\u201d(Ko Dong-hwan) Yet, Korean Postal Workers\u2019 Union chief Kim Ayung-hwan questioned the fig<\/span>ure\u2019s credibility. With help from a Korea Labor Institute survey, he argued that the employees actually worked more than 55.1 hours a week.\u201d(Ko, 2017). These hours have lead to an a<\/span>larming number of \u2018k<\/span>warosa\u2019 for postal workers. For instance, in 2017 Cho Man-sik, a 44 year old postal worker died from atherosclerosis caused by excessive work.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Women in Korea are traditionally in charge of housework and childcare. Even today women are expected to perform these duties, even if they have a job of their own. This causes great stress\u00a0<\/span>for working mothers. Which when added with the long w<\/span>orking hours from their job can make women vulnerable to health risks l<\/span>ike \u2018kwarosa\u2019 and\u00a0<\/span>suicide.\u00a0<\/span>One example of a mother suffering from \u2018kwarosa\u2019 occ<\/span>urred in January of 2017. An unnamed 34 year old working mother of three died of a heart attack. Apparently, she returned \u201cfrom maternity leave only a week before her death [.], and immediately [began] working 12 hour days.\u201d (France-Presse, 2017)\u00a0<\/span>In Misaeng, Sun Ji-young collapse<\/span>s on the<\/span>highway after putti<\/span>ng in excessive hours on a difficult project. She was then hospitalized. In many ways, Sun Ji-young is quite lucky in the fact that exhaustion seems to have been the only consequence of her actions. And that she is able to continue working. Especially when you consider that, Sun Ji-young chooses to pull<\/span>over to the\u00a0<\/span>side of the road when she notices she is falling asleep; instead of continuing to the office. Her actions saved her from a possibly fatal accident. However, in rea<\/span>l life, it is common for people to ignore the dange<\/span>r\u00a0<\/span>of being overly tired when driving, resulting\u00a0<\/span>in serious road collisions. Thus, this scene illustrates one of the risks involved in overworking employees; as it can result in them performing unsafe workplace habits.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Though industrial workers in Korea are largely affected by long working hours there isn\u2019t a lot\u00a0<\/span>of data. This is because companies have b<\/span>een cov<\/span>ering up workplace accidents by pressuring em<\/span>ployees to state that the accidents happened outside of work. Which causes K<\/span>orea\u2019s workplace accide<\/span>nt statistics to have inaccurate data. H<\/span>owever, Korean companies couldn\u2019t cover-up the number of deaths at w<\/span>ork. Which is a lot higher than other developed nations. This do<\/span>esn\u2019t necessarily mean that all workplace deaths have to do with the long working hours in Korea. But, I\u00a0<\/span>believe that it is a significant factor to these numbers. In Misaeng these exploitative working conditions are illustrated when Assistant Manager Sung Joon-sik angers textile factory workers by overworking them to produce a large order for the compan<\/span>y. This is quite dangerous as they are working on dangerously old equipment with only 3 to 4 hours of sleep daily. The workers fear the consequences of continuing to perform in such bad conditions resulting in confrontations between them and Assistant Manager. This depiction paints a fairly dark look at the reality for industrial workers in Korea.<\/span><\/p>\n

In reality, all Koreans are affected in some way by the long hours performed by workers all over the country. However, change is on the horizon. In July of this year, Korea will begin to implement a new law which cuts the maximum work hours to 52 a week from the current 68. Though, how effective this will be in Korea is unclear, only time will tell.<\/span><\/p>\n

Questions:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Do you think that the new law, that cut the maximum weekly work hours from 68 to 52 will stop employees from overworking?<\/p>\n

What else can the Korean government do to stop the exploitation of employees through overwork?<\/p>\n

What did you think of Oh Sang-sik comment to Sun Ji-young suggesting that she \u201cget rest and work twice as hard when [she\u2019s] out\u201d(46:17) after collapsing from overwork?<\/p>\n

Bibliography:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ko, Dong-hwan, \u201c[K-Terminology] Koreans being overworked to death in \u2018kwarosa,\u2019\u201dThe Korean Times<\/i>, February 27th 2017, Healthcare section.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.koreatimes.co.kr\/www\/culture\/2017\/02\/641_224791.html<\/a><\/p>\n

(Accessed 06\/20\/2018)<\/p>\n

Sung, So-young, \u201cEfforts to end overwork not working,\u201d Korea JoongAng Daily,<\/i><\/p>\n

September 16th 2010.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/koreajoongangdaily.joins.com\/news\/article\/article.aspx?aid=2926109<\/a><\/p>\n

(Accessed 06\/20\/2018)<\/p>\n

Jeong,\u00a0Eun-joo, \u201cHow S. Korea has a low industrial accident rate, alongside the highest death rate,\u201d Hankyoreh<\/i>, June 27 2016, Business section.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/english.hani.co.kr\/arti\/english_edition\/e_business\/749921.html<\/a><\/p>\n

(Accessed 06\/20\/2018)<\/p>\n

Bentley, Peter, \u201cBenefit of longer working hours is just a myth,\u201dThe Daily Telegraph<\/i>, March 6 2013.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.dailytelegraph.com.au\/news\/opinion\/benefit-of-longer-working-hours-is-just-a-myth\/news-story\/3209254d6cf910984cb5f8fab75ac2f7?sv=4816ee19a2e58386fa296e8e50a2b2ab<\/a><\/p>\n

(Accessed 06\/20\/2018)<\/p>\n

Haas, Benjamin , \u201c<\/i>South Korea cuts ‘inhumanely long’ 68-hour working week,\u201d The Guardian, <\/i>March 1 2018.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2018\/mar\/01\/south-korea-cuts-inhumanely-long-68-hour-working-week<\/a><\/p>\n

(Accessed 06\/20\/2018)<\/p>\n

Smith, Nicola ,\u201cAction demanded in South Korea over excessive overtime culture following producer suicide,\u201d The Telegraph<\/i>, April 25 2017.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/2017\/04\/25\/action-demanded-south-korea-excessive-overtime-culture-following\/<\/a><\/p>\n

(Accessed 06\/20\/2018)<\/p>\n

Jangta, \u201cOverwork culture proves hard to dismiss,\u201d Yonhap News Agency<\/i>, April 25 2013.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/english.yonhapnews.co.kr\/n_feature\/2013\/04\/24\/61\/4901000000AEN20130424009700315F.HTML<\/a><\/p>\n

(Accessed 06\/20\/2018)<\/p>\n

France-Presse, Agence , \u201c\u2018Working mum’s death shocks South Korea,\u2019\u201dThe Strait Times, <\/i>February 27 2017.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/asia\/east-asia\/working-mums-death-shocks-south-korea<\/a><\/p>\n

(Accessed 06\/20\/2018)<\/p>\n

Kang,\u00a0Hyun-kyung, \u201c’When Park spoke, everybody cried,\u2019\u201d The Korean Times<\/i>, December 8 2013.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.koreatimes.co.kr\/www\/news\/nation\/2013\/12\/116_147609.html<\/a><\/p>\n

(Accessed 06\/20\/2018)<\/p>\n

CNN, \u201cWarnings about overwork in South Korea,” Youtube<\/i>, July 23 2015. video.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mYU02UPinQk<\/a><\/p>\n

(Accessed 06\/20\/2018)<\/p>\n

OECD (2018), GDP per hour worked (indicator). doi: 10.1787\/1439e590-en (Accessed on 21 June 2018)<\/p>\n

https:\/\/data.oecd.org\/lprdty\/gdp-per-hour-worked.htm<\/a><\/p>\n

(Accessed 06\/20\/2018)<\/p>\n

World Bank, \u201cGDP (US$) 1960-2017.\u201d<\/p>\n

https:\/\/data.worldbank.org\/indicator\/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?locations=KR&view=chart<\/a><\/p>\n

(Accessed 06\/20\/2018)<\/p>\n

Misaeng\u00a0<\/i>\ubbf8\uc0dd (also known as: \uc544\uc9c1 \uc0b4\uc544 \uc788\uc9c0 \ubabb\ud55c \uc790 \u201cAn Incomplete Life\u201d).\u00a0Directed by Kim Won Seok. South Korea: Number 3 Pictures, 2014. Netflix.<\/p>\n

Yoon, Chang-Gyo, Kyu-Jung Bae, Mo-Yeol Kang, and Jin-Ha Yoon. “Is Suicidal Ideation Linked to Working Hours and Shift Work in Korea?” Journal of Occupational Health<\/i> 57, no. 3 (2015): 222-229.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Synopsis: [episode 16] Geu-rae, Young-yi and Baek-ki have worked hard to submit their own business proposals. However, office politics threatens all their hard work. Meanwhile, Seok-yul deals with a conflict between factory workers and his boss, Assistant Manager Sung Joon-sik. [episode 17] Sun Ji-young is working overtime on a difficult project, without the support of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58524,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/misaeng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/misaeng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/misaeng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/misaeng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58524"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/misaeng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/misaeng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":228,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/misaeng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179\/revisions\/228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/misaeng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/misaeng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/misaeng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}