[prodigycorp]

Korea is backwards in technology in every possible way.

- For the longest time, you needed a windows computer to access any sort of government or banking service, and it's still the case for most services

- Because of the reliance on crappy windows laptops, you see everyone who uses a laptop carries an external mouse around to places like coffee shops (bc their trackpads suck)

- the de-facto document format are crappy hancom formats

- watching korean news is farcical - every time they cut to public footage, literally 80% of the frame is blurred. I see no point in even watching the news.

- APIs and API documentation for stuff is sooooo poorly designed/written. Like, it's a f-ing joke.

- External map providers were iced out of hte market until this past year

- You need a phone number to sign up for literally anything.

There are so many more examples but these are just the ones off the top of my head. There is not an inch of breathing room for dynamism.

Koreas issues arent political. This is what happens in pure oligopolies. People on twitter love to fantasize about Korea being so technofuturistic but the truth is that the startup culture is terrible, there's no venture capital scene, and the big companies write all the rules

[dogwalker5000]

> - External map providers were iced out of hte market until this past year

Foreign internet content companies (like Twitch) got iced out a few years ago too due to “sending party pay” fees imposed by ISPs.

[jdw64]

You're right. This stems from the characteristics of a small country. In fact, in Korea, Twitter (X) is looked down upon as something only crazy people use, and its image is not good.

But the overall situation you described is basically a combination of a chaebol-centered, family-run system of national governance, layered on top of large corporate oligarchy. Within that structure, the problem becomes one of survival through vendor contracts rather than aggressive investment—that's the real issue.

I personally hate this culture, which is why I'm trying to get a job in the U.S. Working 84 hours a week for three months and making less than 8 million won is exhausting.

[t-3]

> In fact, in Korea, Twitter (X) is looked down upon as something only crazy people use, and its image is not good.

It's basically the same in many areas of the US. Social media use is very regional due to network effects.

[jdw64]

Oh, really? That's interesting. I suppose that makes sense, since in the U.S., a single state is often larger than all of South Korea. Thanks for the good conversation. Sometimes the world is surprising in ways like this

[Glyptodon]

Even within a single state and area of the US there are often many different groups living in completely different ways almost unaware of each other.

[prmoustache]

> Twitter (X) is looked down upon as something only crazy people

I think it has been the case globally since Elon Musk converted it into a neo-nazi propaganda platform.

[Pay08]

> the de-facto document format are crappy hancom formats

What's hancom?

[mparkms]

Awful Korean-developed MS Office clone.

edit: for more context, it was initially adopted because it had better support for Korean language features, but now it serves basically no purpose other than be a pain in the ass for anyone who has to deal with their proprietary, incompatible with everything file formats.

[jibal]

A web search will give you a faster and better answer than you will get by asking here.

[Pay08]

Apparently not, since most of the results I get (that are in English) are about a lawsuit they lost for violating the AGPL.

[jibal]

First hit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hancom

[Glyptodon]

I thought people fantasized about choebol revenge stories and romance... Never realized Korea had any kind of "futuristic" reputation.

[deaux]

I agree with some of them. Others need much more nuance.

> - External map providers were iced out of hte market until this past year

This was a positive for literally every Korean resident and only a negative for Google shareholders and a few tourists who had to download a local maps app. Boohoo, politicians doing things benefiting their people.

> - You need a phone number to sign up for literally anything.

The reality is that this also has many upsides. Admitting this doesn't do well on HN though. The truth is that it's a defensible tradeoff, you can disagree with it but pretending it's clear-cut is ignorant.

> - the de-facto document format are crappy hancom formats

In 2026 nobody uses these except for when dealing with government institutions. Saying they're de facto for Korea as a whole is wild generalization.

[Glyptodon]

I don't get the phone number thing - why is needing a $20 burner phone to post on a forum or blog a positive?

[deaux]

A burner phone is a device, it doesn't come with a phone number. Phone numbers are all real-identity-tied, so what they really mean is _identity verification_ through phone number. Everyone on HN knows the downsides of that, but there's clear upsides too. It prevents most of the digital "This is why we can't have nice things". The US is on the path towards the worst of both worlds, services still require you to do identity verification but it involves sending your government ID and face video to Thiel-affiliated Persona.