“Misaeng” is a Korean TV series about an office worker that gets treated differently because he did not go to college, unlike other workers. Jang gue-race, the main character, does not go to college due to his poor financial situation in his family and keeps following his passion and talent in Go. He tries to be a professional GO champion, but he fails due to his financial situation again. Then he looks for a job. He is a brilliant person, so he gets a job as an intern in a huge company without a college degree. The problem begins as he starts his work in the company. As an intern without a college degree, other coworkers get jealous because they think that Jang did not go to college and it is unfair to be treated like other interns in the company. Even with everyone’s hate and jealousy, Jang overcomes and does lots of successful works in the company, so everyone stops hating him. However, when the intern working period is finished, he gets fired, and other less talented coworkers become full-time employees.
“Misaeng “shows the sad truth about the Korean employment situation. It is essential to get a college degree in Korea, and those without college degrees get unfair treatment. In reality, without a college degree, it is almost impossible to get employed in big companies. Jang is employed to do some extra work in the company and gets fired after the intern even with great work. The educational discrimination is shown in Misaeng. Kids from low-income families do not usually get a good education because of Korea’s high cost of learning. This leads to a bigger problem because Korean companies hire people with good education, which is the social systemic injustice. With this discrimination, kids from rich families get rich easier than kids from frolow-income families.
After watching ”Misaeng,” I feel bad for the current Korean Job market situation. There is nothing wrong with being born in a low-income family. Opportunities are supposed to be equal for everyone or as close as possible. This social injustice must be worked out to be removed.