South Korea is facing high levels of income inequality, significant government corruption, and growing public unease with government officials. In this tense political climate, senior education ministry official Na Hyang-wook recently made outrageous comments that the country should implement an official system of social class, and that 99% of the South Korean people are “like dogs and pigs” who only need to be fed and kept alive.
Na didn’t stop there, berating the public for their outpouring of sympathy towards a 19-year-old subway contract worker crushed to death by a train. His comments were particularly inflammatory because the death of this young man—reportedly underpaid compared to coworkers, and working without adequate safety measures—has become a rallying cry against economic inequality. Many viewed his death as a symbol of the overwhelming class distinction between South Korea’s “gold spoons” (children born wealthy) and “dirt spoons” (children born poor). Na’s comments gave the damaging impression that public officials don’t care about the poor.
