Why are so many Koreans emigrating from South Korea today?

As an emigrant myself, here are my reasons for leaving Korea:

Too homogenous - Although the number of foreign-born residents has grown significantly over the recent years, it still feels too homogenous and one-dimensional for my taste. I prefer a more multi-cultural environment where I get exposed to different cultures, ways of thought, cuisines, etc.

Education is a joke - I’m not too keen on raising my kid in Korea because the education costs are astronomical and the education system itself is deeply flawed. Too much emphasis on rote memorization, and not enough focus on critical thinking and creative freedom. Granted, western education system is also crap, but it is still marginally better.

Limited travel options - South Korea lacks interesting holiday destinations that would inspire me to want to travel. In my opinion, it doesn’t have many historic towns or monuments to speak of. The architecture is kind of boring and even nature is not that inspiring. I sometimes yearn for wilderness or dramatic sceneries and it’s hard to come by that in Korea. Instead, you get this:

Ugly apartments - I’m not a fan of the mass-produced concrete Soviet-style apartment blocks. They look hideous in my opinion. Although they are convenient and very nice on the inside, I don’t like flats in general because you don’t own the land your property sits on.

Poor economic outlook- The future of the South Korean economy looks very bleak. This is because they are not having enough babies. It has the lowest birth rate in the world. Soon it’s going to experience a severe worker shortage. It’s simply not going to have enough people to power its economy.

Geopolitical tension - No, not North Korea. I’m afraid of the South Korean right-wing party that likes to recklessly provoke NK, China through its blatant pro-US policies. The South Korean right-wing ruling class is very incompetent in the arena of international politics. SK should have remained neutral, but now it is begging to join the QUAD (like Ukraine begging to join NATO). Given what’s happening in Ukraine, I don’t want to take any chances.

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Having said that, South Korea is still a decent country overall. It’s got outstanding healthcare, infrastructure, cuisine, and highly professional customer service. So, I don’t think as many people emigrate these days as they used to. If they do emigrate, it’s mostly due to career or family motivations.