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I lived in Korea in the 90s, kind of after the birth rates started falling drastically. I knew people who grew up in families with 10+ kids and how things worked.

The previous generations of Koreans put a HUGE emphasis on child bearing and child rearing. The entire culture of Korea revolved around those two things. Marriage and love did not exist like it does in the West. Women grew up believing that they would be mothers and housekeepers, and men grew up believing that their primary duty was to get married young and make lots and lots of babies for their ancestors. Making money and having plenty to eat were side-quests not to replace the prime directive, to reproduce and propagate the generations.

You can see vestiges of this old culture in all of their media and culture today. All of the old holidays are focused on family, on connecting the previous generations to the current generations, on relying on older people to help the younger people, and so on and so forth.

The concept of "individual rights" simply didn't exist. As a Korean man, you were one of many people bound together by blood, tribe, language, culture, and race. There as no "going your own way". You had a duty you must perform, and if you failed to perform it adequately, all of your ancestors would punish you for it.

This new culture is entirely self-focused and self-centered. The idea of sacrificing your entire life to satisfy the expectations of the previous generations is simply gone. No one believes that stuff any more. No one takes seriously the idea of duty at all, with rich and poor alike failing in their duties between the classes and among themselves as well. Friends no longer consider themselves practically family with inseverable ties, but mere convenience for entertainment.

I don't think any of the old culture of Korea is left. I know for a fact that the Koreans who left Korean for America are way more traditional than any Korean I know living in Korea. It was kind of a shock, honestly, finding pockets of ancient Korean culture who held on to old traditions and at the same time spoke Korean and English fluently.

The point, I think, is this. Once the people abandon tradition and duty, they deserve to die. That is their punishment.

I don't feel bad for the modern generation of Koreans. I feel bad for their ancestors who sacrificed so much just so that their children could exist. Somehow they screwed up transferring the culture to the next generation. I don't know what exactly did it, but I blame the industrial revolution and modern conveniences. Had the Koreans been condemned to slave away on subsistence farming, I guarantee you that the culture would still be alive and well.