[Hyung-ju Heo's Column] Does the Story of a Teen Mom with Three Kids from Different Fathers Promote Childbirth?

[Hyungyoung Ju's Creator World]
Content Overflowing with Child Rearing, Marriage, and Hate-Inducing Content
Focus on Extreme and Sensational Stories Chasing Viewership
Marriage Hell Broadcast Exposing the Worst Spouses

“Korea is so screwed!”

This statement made by Joanne Williams, professor emerita at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, after hearing that South Korea’s total fertility rate was 0.78 as of last year in the EBS documentary "Documentary K Population Project: Ultra-Low Birthrate" that aired this year, 2023, has become a meme.

This ‘meme’ is increasingly becoming a reality. The total fertility rate in the second quarter of this year reached 0.7, the lowest ever recorded. Considering that the number of births tends to decrease towards the end of the year, there are predictions that it could fall to the 0.6 range this year.

South Korea is now facing the issue of a low birthrate as a serious challenge. Why has this happened? The problems are manifold. The ‘Seoul Republic’ issue where the population is excessively concentrated in the Seoul metropolitan area, the patriarchal family culture that burdens women with work, housework, and childcare, with education also becoming a woman's responsibility in the context of long working hours leading to reluctance towards child-rearing, high housing prices and childcare costs, and so on.

Among the various causes, the issue I would like to address as a content creator is the ‘content that promotes child-rearing and marriage aversion’. It’s like adding fuel to the fire in a situation that is already ablaze due to the aforementioned major problems, with content that instills fear regarding marriage and childbirth rampant.

Watching programs like ‘Marriage Hell’, ‘The Precious Child’, and ‘Teenage Mom’, no one will harbor dreams or hope for marriage and parenthood. It’s not that I’m advocating for showcasing fantasy, but rather pointing out that the examples shown in the above programs are extremely extreme, and they can foster aversion towards child-rearing and marriage.

Recently, the most shocking video was that of Oh Hyun-sil, who appeared on ‘Teenage Mom 4’ with three children, each with a different father. The father of her first child, whom she trusted and loved, turned out to be a married man. The father of her second child was imprisoned for theft, and the father of her third child, who habitually said, ‘I want to have a child who resembles us both,’ completely changed his attitude upon learning of her pregnancy, denying any responsibility and abandoning her.

What did the production team hope to achieve by showing such a story to ‘teenagers’, who are at an age when they should be learning from and witnessing healthy relationships, through this program? The production intention of the teenage mom and dad in the broadcaster’s homepage is as follows: ‘What are the lives of those who made the commendable choice of not giving up on a new life?’

Oh Hyun-sil’s third child is placed in a childcare center due to financial difficulties and childcare issues, and says, ‘I want to live with my mom as much as the universe.’ I wonder if they had to showcase ‘the real lives of those who made the commendable choice of not giving up on a new life’ in such a tragic manner.

In ‘Marriage Hell’, they also showcased various cases of the worst husbands and wives. Netizens commented that the stories of ‘Couples Crossing the Line’ and ‘Sexless Couples’ instilled despair rather than hope regarding marriage.

While shocking and sensational cases may increase viewership and views, they could also lead to a decrease in preference for marriage and childbirth due to fear. In the midst of this crisis, where ‘Korea is so screwed!’ has become a widespread meme, content creators must feel a sense of responsibility when creating their content.

South Korean youth are gasping for breath, yet there is no one to help them. Everyone is fixated on making money. Broadcasters prioritize stimulating content that guarantees views. After barely overcoming the immense fear instilled by them and summoning the courage to take the next step towards marriage, they are met by South Korea’s ‘wedding market’, which charges 2-3 times the original price, causing them to squander their hard-earned savings.

Next comes the dream of ‘owning a home’, which can never be achieved with a regular salary, leading them into the ‘debt trap’. Only after completing this difficult, challenging, and exhausting process are they granted the ‘certificate’ to enter the realm of ‘child-rearing.’

Ah, exhaustion. The phrase ‘I can’t do this anymore’ naturally comes to mind due to these high hurdles, making young people think, ‘Let’s just fail. Let’s just give up.’ The issue of ‘low birthrate’ has a multitude of problems stacked on top of each other that need to be addressed. Without resolving these issues, the problem of the low birthrate cannot be solved.

South Korea, which grew rapidly, is rapidly disappearing. It feels like the entire nation is in a state of burnout. There are countless problems that need to be solved, but first, in order to pursue solutions in any way, it is important to have ‘hope’. This is because no change can be expected from someone who has given up in their heart.

It is a time when hope is desperately needed. Let’s stop the ‘content that promotes child-rearing and marriage aversion’ and create content that offers even a glimmer of ‘hope’.