After impeachment, disappointed young Koreans turn away from politics

“For 22-year-old college student Lee Ji-ahn, a press conference held last March by eight lawmakers in their 30s and 40s from both the ruling and opposition parties remains a clear memory. “The benefits go to older generations, while the burden falls on future generations,” lawmakers gathered at the National Assembly said as they criticized the national pension reform bill, arguing that the parametric adjustment — raising the contribution rate from 9 percent to 13 percent and the income replacement rate from 40 percent to 43 percent — would make the system worse for young people. “It was the kind of politics I wanted to see,” Lee recalled. But the cross-party push to represent younger voters was short-lived, soon buried under partisan bickering between the ruling and opposition parties. Lee said skepticism began to grow: “Why does it matter if I vote for one party?” Kwon Mil-roo, another college student in her 20s, said she was shocked by a filibuster speech late last year by the leader of the main opposition People Power Party. In the speech, the opposition leader said ma

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