[VIEW 2035] Is Korea living its best life?

Sung Ji-won
The author is a political news reporter of the JoongAng Ilbo.

What if I had bought stocks then? What if I had sold stocks then? What if I had drank one less beer?

Our lives are shaped by a myriad of choices. What would you do if you found you were living the worst version of your life?

This is exactly what "Everything Everywhere All at Once" (2022) is about. The movie revolves around a middle-aged woman named Evelyn. A Chinese-American immigrant, she runs a laundromat and is stressed about her stubborn daughter and dull husband. One day, she comes to know about the existence of a multiverse where different versions of herself live.

In the parallel universes, she is an unmarried Kung Fu master or a cook. A futuristic version of herself has hot dogs for fingers. Among all the versions, the laundromat owner is the worst. Knowing that she can live in other universes, she regrets the past and longs for the future.

It seems that there are some people in the National Assembly who think the universe we live in now is the worst version. One side keeps saying we should go back to the past, while the other claims that we need to jump to the future. It’s like they’re living in a multiverse.

The People Power Party (PPP) has been ruling for six months. But they failed to move on from the past. They consider the former president as the primary reason for every problem. Endless provocations from the North are “the result of North Korea policies implemented by the previous government” and the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act by the Biden administration is “because of the pro-China and anti-America stance taken by the Moon administration.”

They say that the former government is “the main contributor to the mounting market volatility” caused by a default of bonds related to Legoland Korea Resort, rather than mistakes made by the Gangwon local authority.

Conversely, the Democratic Party (DP) is trying to jump forward four years. They’re already demanding the president step down, requiring another election. The opposition party said allegations Yoon met with 30 lawyers at a bar in Cheongdam-dong is “influence peddling which should be taken seriously,” although they have no solid sources. They’re overlooking the current bottleneck in financial operations or soaring prices.

Unfortunately, “now” has always been the worst. According to data released by Gallup Korea, the proportion of people who said “our lives will improve in a year” has never risen above 20 percent in the past five months. It was the same during the previous government, before Covid-19 vaccines were rolled out in 2021.

Now, let’s return to the movie. In it, a villain named Jobu Tupaki tries to make Evelyn fall into nihilism, saying “Nothing matters” as she experiences all the pasts and futures. We need to pull ourselves together in order not to become like the villain. But it will probably be difficult.

BY SUNG JI-WON [sung.jiwon@joongang.co.kr]