[kijin]

> Startups are quite big in SK because the government gives them lots of funding.

Exactly. All that funding and the associated paperwork, not to mention the adverse incentives it brings to the table, help to turn the Korean startup ecosystem into yet another old-fashioned, government-controlled economic sector.

We all call each other the same honorifics, make our offices cute and comfy, and try not to have a visible hierarchy. But at the end of the day, it's the government that tells you which projects will be funded and when you should submit screenshots of the deliverables. Angels? Yeah, they exist, but where do you think half of their money comes from?

Source: also a South Korean startup.