Korea. No doubt.
Many foreigners think that Korea as a whole is a very wealthy, modern, and sophisticated country, often because of misleading Korean media such as K-pop and K-drama (the entire K-industry). This view is not entirely wrong, but South Korea’s prosperity and development are often concentrated very narrowly in just a few wealthy neighborhoods.
As soon as you leave an affluent urban area, you stumble upon a slum with terrible living conditions. Don't get me wrong. Every country (even wealthy ones) has a region like this, but I was really surprised to see such poverty in South Korea. Especially since I went to Japan a while ago. Japan also has poverty, but it is generally much richer and more developed than South Korea. Due to the influence of international media, I mistakenly assumed that South Korea would be similar to, or almost as developed as, Japan (I didn’t think they were the same). I always knew that Japan was richer. But I thought it was more comparable). In addition to the media, we have noticed that South Korea often appears to be a very rich and prosperous country, thanks to extreme poverty in North Korea.
It wasn’t long after I arrived in South Korea, on the very first day, that I first saw urban poverty in the country. One of the first tourist attractions we visited was Seoul Fortress, the ruins of the Joseon Dynasty. Walking around the area, I was shocked at how poor it was. The entire region was dotted with rundown houses in terrible condition, never seen in a "developed" country like South Korea. And in the middle of this slum was a luxury hotel (I think it was a JW Marriott), which I don’t remember exactly. I was shocked by the contrast. Who wants to stay in such a luxury hotel in a slum?
Below is a photo of Seoul's city walls taken from Wikipedia.
If you look in the bottom right corner, you can see abandoned houses and huts. However, this area is rendered much better than the original.
The slums of Seoul are often right next to upscale residential neighborhoods, creating a sharp contrast that is common in South Africa. This surprised me. Seoul is one of the few places in the world where you can walk for just 10 minutes and watch the transition from glittering modern skyscrapers to crowded, dirty residential neighborhoods, sometimes filled with roadside beggars (the situation for residents here only gets worse in winter).
There are many others, but South Korea is generally a much poorer country than I expected. Not to mention the "Korean Boo" who think of Korea as a magical "paradise".
PS: I have no antipathy towards Korea or Koreans at all, but I think this is something that needs clarification, and this is an outspoken opinion from my experience traveling in Korea (I think there are many others who disagree).
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