Why Sweden? (2010/09/17)

jens johnsson

 Why Sweden?

Jeongmuk Kang (South Korea)

MSc in Sustainable Development

When I met one of my friends in a bar around 10 months ago, both of us were totally exhausted from struggling in the job market of South Korea. My friend said, "Shall we go abroad for master's degree?" Both of us started laughing loudly as soon as he said so. The laugh was containing several meanings, "That's fantastic!", "But who is going to support us?", "Could we?" and so on.

Like several other Asian countries, people who work in South Korea are asked a lot of working hours in a company. Sometimes, working in South Korea means that we are already ready to abandon our leisure time for rest of our life. This is not the story of all of the citizen in South Korea but most of the youth who are trying to have a job after finishing undergraduate study recently. Of course, it is also utterly valuable to work for their carrier and to contribute to the development of country's economy. However, the fact that I am forced not to be myself but to be one of them by unspoken rule of society made me hesitate to follow its rule without any resistance. So I and my friend who I had a big laugh with are in Sweden now. 

When it comes to the question why I chose Sweden for master's degree, I can simply answer, "I wanted to see how they live." Sweden is one of the representative countries showing the possibility of catching both rabbits: Development and Distribution. Nowadays, both of Korea, the South, and the North are suffering from totally opposite circumstances; developing without distribution, and distributing without development. There won't be a perfect solution for eliminating poverty by maximizing the efficiency of economic development. I think, however, Swedish model could show both Korea the better way to ease their sufferings and to step toward reunification.

I rarely know about Swedish society yet but it looks enviable so far. Please allow me to know what factors made your society relatively stable than any other developed countries. I'm going back to South Korea after I finish my study here, then I seem to be missing the life in Sweden. However, it would also be delighted to struggle to make my nation better place to live even though I supposed to deserve fewer hours for enjoying leisure time. Now, I'm ready to enjoy my life in Sweden as much as I can with my eyes and ears fully open.