TheEconomistOctober 12th 2019 411I
n an earlyscene in “Parasite”, a hit
South Korean film, a young woman from
a poor family forges a university-enrol-
ment certificate for her brother. He is about
to apply for a job tutoring a girl from a rich
family and hopes that the false credential
will improve his chances. But when he
shows up to the interview the girl’s mother
barely glances at it, telling him she trusts
him because he was recommended by her
daughter’s previous tutor—his only posh
friend, who has left to study abroad.
Even more than in most countries, aca-
demic credentials are valuable for getting
ahead in South Korea. But the scene cap-
tures another truth: that if you know the
right people, your exam results don’t mat-
ter as much. The two siblings in “Parasite”
(pictured above, desperately trying to catch
a free wi-fi signal) milk that insight for all it
is worth, before things inevitably unravel.
The film, which won the top prize at the
Cannes film festival this year, also struck a
chord with South Koreans: in a country of
52m, cinemas have sold 10m tickets for it
since it was released at the end of May.
The resonance of a satirical film about
inequality is hardly surprising. MoonJae-in, the president, promised to make
South Korea “fairer” when he was elected in
2017, after his predecessor was impeached
(and later given a long prison sentence) for
using her authority to help a friend’s child
get ahead, among other abuses. Yet over the
past couple of months a nepotism scandal
has engulfed Cho Kuk, Mr Moon’s new jus-
tice minister. Before Mr Cho was appoint-
ed, it emerged that his daughter, now in her
late 20s, had received some unusual bene-
fits during her studies. Among other
things, she allegedly received generous
scholarships despite twice failing her ex-
ams at medical school, and was listed as
the primary author of an academic paper
while still in secondary school, even
though she had only completed a two-week
internship at the lab where the research in
question was conducted (which happened
to be run by a friend of her mother’s). Mr
Cho, who has apologised to young people
for causing “disappointment” but has said
he will not resign, has been charged by Mr
Moon with reforming the prosecutors’ of-
fice, to make sure it does not go soft on
well-connected crooks.
For many South Koreans, the story car-ries echoes of the scandal that brought
down Park Geun-hye, the previous presi-
dent, whose closest confidante persuaded
a university to change its admissions crite-
ria to admit her daughter. Outraged stu-
dents, in particular, have been protesting
against Mr Cho’s appointment. “I don’t
mind the system being competitive, but it’s
the hypocrisy that’s so galling,” says Lee
Jong-bae, who is campaigning to reform
university admissions. “They promised us
a fair and equal society and instead we keep
having these scandals that show us that
privilege is passed on and you can never
succeed unless your parents did.” His disil-
lusionment is typical: nearly two-thirds of
South Koreans under the age of 30 believe
that they are unlikely to move up the social
ladder. Six years ago, it was less than half.As bad as it seems
They have cause to be pessimistic. The so-
cial class of children is more closely tied to
that of their parents in South Korea than in
any other country in the oecd, according to
a study published last year. Data from the
education ministry show that the percent-
age of students who receive financial aid at
the best universities in Seoul was barely
half the national average, suggesting that a
large majority of their students are from
well-off families.
The problem is not exclusive to South
Korea, says Lee Cheol-sung of Sogang Uni-
versity. “Privilege plays an important role
in educational attainment everywhere.”
The recent revelation that some rich fam-
ilies in America had secured places forPrivilege in South KoreaOne country, two systems
SEOUL
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