“People around the world could relate to the polarization it describes,” said Huh Eun, a retired college professor in Seoul and a fan of Mr. Bong’s films. The film touched nerves among South Koreans because of its depiction of the squalor and exorbitant housing prices the poor face in the country’s congested capital city, and the deepening fatalism among the have-nots over their inability to climb the social ladder. The minister, Cho Kuk, resigned after weeks of public uproar, and President Moon Jae-in apologized to young South Koreans over the country’s growing economic inequality. Mr. Bong’s film proves that a story that examines the struggles of ordinary South Koreans could strike a chord around the world because of the inequalities that afflict many societies. “Miracle!” Woosang Lee, a Korean in Vancouver, Canada, wrote on Twitter.

Source: New York Times February 10, 2020 10:59 UTC