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Changing Korean Values

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People increasingly consider their familyto be at the heart of their lives. A newtrend, one that opposes familydisintegration, began sweeping thecountry in the mid-to-late 20th century.Its voice says, Family is the mostimportant value, and it has begun toflow like a low, but irreversible, river.

1000

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70%, 1996(

) 1500

56% 14%

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The growing trend of valuing the familyand enhanced intimacy was clearlyindicated in a survey that the KoreaResearch Center conducted on 1,000subscribers of Dong-A Ilbo living inSeoul, Gyeonggi Province, andmetropolitan cities on the commission ofthe newspaper. Asked if they often talkabout their concerns with their families,about 70 percent of respondents

answered yes. The figure is 14 percenthigher than the 56 percent in anothersurvey that the former GovernmentInformation Agency conducted on 1,500men and women around the country in1996.

(51.0%)

32.5%

8.6%.1996

26.3%.

76.7%

, 91.8%

To the question, What do you think ismost important in your life? the secondlargest group of respondents (32.5percent) answered a happy family,

following the 51.0 percent of thosepolled who said health. J ust 8.6percent said economic affluence. Bycontrast, in the 1996 survey, only 26.3percent answered a happy family.Also, 76.7 percent of those polled said,family is more important than my ownsuccess, while 91.8 percent responded,

7/27/2019 Changing Korean Values

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4.1%.

It is possible to sacrifice myself forfamily. Only 4.1 percent agreed that Ican be happy without a family.

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TV 760

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Korea is not alone in seeing the trend of

valuing the family. The Turn off the TVWeek campaign conducted for a weekin April in the U.S. based on the idea,There is nothing more valuable thanconversation between family members,attracted the participation of some 10countries, including Brazil, the U.K,Australia, J apan, Canada, Taiwan, Italy,and Mexico, as well as 7.6 millionpeople in the U.S. The main concepts ofmovies, literature, and advertisements

were family disintegration orindividualism a few years ago, butmany of the products are dealing withthe value of family or restoration offamily.

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Experts interpret this trend based on thereaction to the crisis of familydisintegration, including soaring divorcerates and the spreading perception thatfamily, rather than material satisfaction

or grand ideology and cause, is the coreof peoples happiness. Hyun Taek-soo,sociology professor of Korea University,said, As individuals who felt a sense ofloss amid the phenomenon of familydisintegration began to feel nostalgia forthis, the family began to be restored,predicting, family is the most basic unitof community throughout history and willfunction as a core value in the 21stcentury as well.