Cultural Post 2

[Kevin Kim]

One of the cultural aspects of Korea I learned about was the presence of regional tension between provinces in Korea. This is formally called regionalism and is a deeply rooted issue in Korean culture. This issue can be traced back to former presidencies in the nation. Many presidential candidates were backed by their respective province and those elected presidents, often neglected the development of the rivaling provinces. An example of this extreme regionalism is between the Jeolla Province and the Gyeongsang Province. Such regionalism went so to the point of not hiring people from the opposing province. People from the Jeolla Province also faced heavy discrimination in government agencies as well. It was common practice to change one's family registry to obtain higher positions within the government if one was born in Jeolla. Despite being a deep rooted issue, regionalism appears to be on the decline with the new generation of Koreans.