Thanks to the K-wave, its future-forward infrastructure and internationally recognised brands, South Korea has a zero-to-hero national success story that has become the envy of the world. This small former agricultural nation has transformed into one of Asia's most developed countries, it has the highest suicide rate in the developed world.

US-based journalist Joi Lee visits her motherland of South Korea to understand why so many young Koreans think that life in their country is hell on earth. In the face of ever greater economic stress and being labelled as the generation that has ‘given up’, Joi explores the effect growing up in an intensely pressure-filled society.

She meets a spectrum of young people, from overworked university students and the educators trying to provide them with a different path, to politicians trying to change the system and rebellious musicians who refuse to conform.

Part of the series Deciphering South Korea