Frustration with an 'unfair' society, not right-wing politics, drives Korea’s angry young voters

Young Koreans in their 20s and 30s, once regarded as politically disengaged, are increasingly making their voices heard at the ballot box and on the streets — and it's more than a passing phase.

During the recent June 3 local elections, they emerged as decisive swing voters in key battlegrounds, including the Seoul mayoral race, and also played a leading role in protests at Jamsil's Olympic Park in southern Seoul.

A striking difference among these young voters is that they do not "unconditionally" cast their ballots for a party. Some even use their votes strategically to keep the government in check.

An office worker, surnamed Jang, says she split her vote in this year’s June 3 local elections. She voted for the opposing People Power Party (PPP) candidate for Seoul mayor, while casting a ballot for the ruling Democratic Party candidate for her district mayor.

The 36-year-old office worker did not vote in the 2022 local elections but decided this time she should, to express her dissatisfaction with the government’s housing policies and other issues.

“I was shocked when I started looking for a new jeonse [long-term housing rental deposit] lease after my landlord told me to move out when my contract expires at the end of the year and found there was practically nothing available,” Jang said. “I didn’t want to support the PPP after it caused the martial law crisis, but I also think the government needs to be checked, so it was a strategic choice.”

Jang also plans to attend a protest at the vote-counting center at Olympic Park in southern Seoul this weekend to demand protection of voting rights.

A new political voice rising

Until recently, the dominant view in Korea was that the growing conservatism among people in their 20s and 30s, particularly young men, stemmed from resentment toward those in power and older people.

While that may still hold to some extent, a different interpretation has gained traction with the ongoing protest at the Olympic Park. Analysts argue that their changing behavior cannot be explained simply as a conservative shift. Instead, they say young people, frustrated by unfair social systems, widening wealth inequality, the disappearing ladder of social mobility and political marginalization, have begun to organize and take action.

It reflects growing anger among what some describe as the “Angry Young” toward entrenched interests they see as responsible for creating an unfair society.

A total of 92 percent, or 98 out of 107 respondents in their 20s and 30s, said Korean society is unfair in a survey conducted by the JoongAng Ilbo from June 8 to 10 — after the Olympic Park protests began. Among the 107 respondents, 64 were men, and 43 were women.

When asked why, with multiple answers allowed, 30 percent of the respondents cited wealth inequality, including real estate assets; 24 percent pointed to politics failing to reflect public opinion; 22 percent to burdens placed on future generations by fiscal expansion; and 12 percent to welfare disparities, including pensions.

Previous studies have also shown that people in their 20s and 30s are more sensitive to the value of fairness than other generations.

People in their 30s recorded the highest share of respondents who said society as a whole was unfair at 45.6 percent, followed by those in their 20s at 41.9 percent, according to the Korea Institute of Public Administration’s 2025 social integration survey.

The figures were lower among people in their 40s, at 40.2 percent, and those in their 50s, at 38.6 percent.

Vanishing path to economic survival

One reason people in their 20s and 30s react so strongly to issues of fairness is that they increasingly see them as matters of survival.

Experts say younger people feel that the wealth gap between age groups continues to widen and that there is no realistic way to close it within a system and set of rules established by previous generations. This has created fears among young adults about their ability to survive economically.

People aged 40 to 49 held an average of 627.14 million won ($411,000) in total assets last year, while those aged 50 to 59 held an average of 662.05 million won in assets, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics’ household finance and welfare survey data.

This roughly doubles the 314.98 million won held by people aged 39 and younger. It is also the widest gap since related statistics began being compiled in 2012.

Anxiety that income from work alone is no longer enough to build the same economic foundation enjoyed by older generations has fueled pushback to government policies.

Housing measures, such as tighter mortgage lending limits, have done little to curb home prices, fueling growing frustration as young voters blame policymakers for failing to prevent a surge in real estate prices while destroying the younger generation’s path to upward mobility.

Experts say opposition to housing policies was a decisive factor behind the June 3 local election exit poll results, in which 56.8 percent of voters aged 20 and younger and 59.7 percent of voters in their 30s supported the incumbent Seoul mayor, Oh Se-hoon, of the opposition PPP.

“One of my biggest goals in life was buying my own house,” 29-year-old Kwon Sung-woo said. “But now, when I look at the housing prices that have already soared well past 1 billion won, all I feel is helplessness and despair about how I could ever afford a home.”

Young people excluded from policy-making

The perception that younger people have been treated as a political minority because they are fewer in number and have lower voter turnout than older people has also contributed to growing anger.

Many believe their views have been excluded from major policy decisions involving future burdens, such as pension reform, raising the retirement age and fiscal expansion.

“The recent National Pension reform ended up disadvantaging young people because their voices were excluded from the policymaking process,” said 23-year-old Lee Jun-seo, who attended the protest at the Olympic Park vote-counting center.

Twenty-year-old Lim Seon-o, who also participated in the protest, shared a similar sentiment.

“Policies such as pension reform, extending the retirement age and fiscal expansion are ultimately designed to protect the interests of older people,” Lim said. “The burden falls on us instead.”

Backlash over double standards from politicians

There is also a strong emotional backlash against politicians and older people who are seen as applying different standards depending on their interests.

Analysts say perceived hypocrisy highlighted by controversies such as the Cho Kuk scandal and the tendency to judge issues differently depending on who is involved have deepened disillusionment among younger people.

Younger people were also skeptical about the recent political backlash against Starbucks Korea over its "Tank Day" marketing. 

“While Starbucks’ marketing may have been inappropriate, I’m not sure it justified the level of criticism directed at the company by the president and politicians,” said a 33-year-old respondent, who asked to be only identified as Choi.

“I found it hypocritical that they remained largely silent about this incident, in which people’s voting rights were infringed upon.”

Begging to differ from hardline conservatives

As younger adults become more vocal in expressing their political views and dissatisfaction with the government, experts say they should not be dismissed as merely part of a hardline conservative movement.

Experts stressed that addressing the frustrations of younger generations and preventing them from escalating into broader intergenerational hostility or social conflict will require more nuanced responses.

“The fact that many young people at the Olympic Park vote-counting center protest called for a new election rather than chanting election fraud slogans suggests that there are young people whose views are distinct from those of hardline conservatives,” said Chun Sang-jin, a sociology professor at Sogang University.

Sociology Prof. Koo Jeong-woo at Sungkyunkwan University also noted that the matter should not be approached solely by asking whether a new election is needed to resolve the issue.

“We need a more rigorous diagnosis of the economic and social difficulties the younger generations are facing, and that politics has failed to represent. Based on this, we should find ways to properly address their frustration over unfairness.”

BY KIM NAM-JUN, OH SAM-GWON, OH SO-YEONG, RYU HYO-RIM   [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]