[Interview] Why Young People in South Korea Are Working to Expand Social Value

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Young professionals working in South Korea’s social impact sector (clockwise from left): Lee Gidae, Na Hyunhong, Kim Wangyoung, and Jeon Sungwook. (Photo courtesy of the individuals; taken in advance.)


 In a previous article, we met four young people in South Korea who are working to expand social value and sustainability in their own ways, each from their respective positions. They are members of SE-ACT, which has been introduced before. Whenever major social issues arise in South Korea, they have supported responses through solidarity. Currently, they are planning and running various programs to encourage more people to take interest in the social solidarity economy and social innovation.

 

👉Related articles 

SE-ACT Part 1
The Birth of SE-ACT Amid Korea’s Democratic Crisis (Part 1)

SE-ACT Part 2
The Birth of SE-ACT Amid Korea’s Democratic Crisis (Part 2)

 

In this article, we share a compilation of responses to a common set of questions posed to the four interviewees. What does it mean to work in the social impact field, where both “profit” and “value” must be pursued simultaneously? Here, we present stories from the four individuals that could not be fully captured in the earlier interviews.

 

Q: You have founded SE-ACT and are actively involved in its activities. What is the ultimate goal you hope to achieve through SE-ACT?

 

😃Na Hyunhong: At its core, we aim to stand with and support socially marginalized people. In particular, we want to play a complementary role that governments, local authorities, and public institutions cannot fulfill. Another goal is to contribute to the development of the social impact sector by acknowledging what is done well and speaking up critically when something is done poorly.

 

😘Lee Gidae: Beyond issues within the social impact sector, we want to respond quickly to problems that arise in society at large and express our own voice. In the long term, we hope our voices will be reflected in policies and systems, and that we can take the lead in solving social problems.

 

😎Jeon Sungwook: Through SE-ACT, I want to take action. Within the social impact ecosystem, there are many stakeholders and complex situations, which often leads to hesitation when making decisions and taking action. But within SE-ACT, I want to step forward without hesitation to do what I believe is right and what I believe is necessary.

 

😍Kim Wangyoung: Since December 2024, following the declaration of martial law, SE-ACT has responded sensitively and moved to the field faster than anyone else in moments of social crisis and pain. These activities have included issuing public statements, participating in protests, sending coffee trucks in solidarity at protest sites, and supporting firefighters during the aircraft accident at Muan Airport. Through these actions, we wanted to show that the social economy is not something that exists only within policies and institutions, but a force that does not remain silent in places where social fractures and wounds are exposed, and that can extend real hands of solidarity at the sites of social suffering.

 

Many social problems in Korean society illustrate this clearly. For example, the families of victims of the Sewol Ferry disaster and victims of real estate fraud came together, refusing to turn away from each other’s pain, and formed cooperatives. Unlike companies that prioritize profit above all else, the social solidarity economy responds sensitively to social incidents, works together to solve shared problems, and organizes the very process of healing wounds. Organizations within the social solidarity economy go beyond being mere means of livelihood or business entities; they take the form of communities that transform experiences of pain into relationships and solidarity rather than leaving them isolated.

 

Q: What is the ultimate reason you actively work to expand social value? Or what kind of world do each of you envision?

 

😘Lee Gidae: We recognize the structural limitations created by existing systems. We believed that prices would be determined by supply and demand within the market economy, but the market failed. We were also convinced that government intervention could solve market failure, yet we are now experiencing the limitations of government as well.

 

To reduce the cost of maintaining society, the social solidarity economy and cooperatives must be activated. Our society spends too much on post-crisis welfare, emergency responses, and temporary solutions. Cooperatives are an investment that reduces “social maintenance costs” by mitigating problems in advance and structurally preventing the breakdown of relationships.

 

Cooperatives also preserve public value and distribute responsibility. Because they are democratically governed, they can become excellent partners for the public sector. Until now, “growth” has been measured by GDP, exports, and corporate value. Going forward, however, we need an economic model that asks not “how fast did it grow?” but “how long can it endure?”—one that focuses on the sustainability of life, regional survival, relationship recovery, and environmental resilience. That economic model is the social solidarity economy.

 

This is why we continue our activities through the social solidarity economy and cooperative model—a way for people to solve countless problems on their own.

 

😎Jeon Sungwook: The world I dream of is one where everyone is an entrepreneur and a customer, an activist and an employee at the same time. Simply put, I hope for a world where anyone can afford to enjoy a fried chicken without thinking twice.

 

😃Na Hyunhong: Since the enactment and implementation of the Framework Act on Cooperatives, there has been no proper channel for information to accumulate. Both success stories and failures are valuable information to someone. We wanted to gather all of this information so that people newly entering the social impact sector would not have to repeat the same trial-and-error experiences as those before them. That mindset led us to start organizing a network.

 

The social solidarity economy already accounts for about 5–10% of Korea’s economy and operates across diverse business areas. I hope these organizations can continue to grow and thrive.

 

😍Kim Wangyoung: I believe the social solidarity economy has the power to reconnect the lives of those left behind after social incidents, and to transform loss, anger, and frustration into a shared community language—ultimately leading to healing. I hope our activities can serve as a bridge between various social problems and the social solidarity economy. Beyond responding quickly to issues, I hope these moments become opportunities to bring the questions raised by social problems into the social solidarity economy, where we can collectively deliberate, remember, and critically reflect on them together.

 


❓❔Do you have more questions for the four of them?

If there’s anything you’re curious about after reading the interview, feel free to send your questions to [email address] (always welcome!😚😜).

We’ll gather your questions and follow up with another interview to share their answers.



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