**1. Introduction**

Article 10 of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea proudly stipulates and guarantees the right to pursue happiness, stating that "everyone has the right to pursue happiness." However, the reality is not so easy because young Koreans living in the flood of the word "happiness" do not feel happy. Statistics Korea [1, 2] surveyed and announced the happiness level of college students, and college students scored 6.1 points out of 10, lower than China with 7.5 points, the United States with 7.2 points, and Japan with 6.2 points. In Korea, welfare policies for young people are insufficient, and the social awareness that efforts should be made to increase the happiness of young people is relatively low [3]. The results of a survey conducted by Dong-A Ilbo and Job Korea on 607 young people aged 20–29 from March 5 to 19, 2021 found out how difficult times young people are having with depression and frustration amid the recent COVID-19 crisis. A total of 501 people (82.5%) answered that they usually experience depression or frustration, and 51.3% of them cited the difficulty in finding employment as the biggest reason.

As 72.5% of high-school graduates in 2020 [4] went on to university, most young people in their 20s in Korea can be said to be college students. However, young people using expressions, such as "Hell Chosun, 88 Dollar Generation, N-Give-up Generation, and Spoon Social Rank Theory" show a sense of despair rather than happiness. It is said to be the most prosperous economic environment since King Dangun (the legendary founder of Korea), but the reality that young people feel is not so [5].

"Hell Chosun" is a new Internet term in Korea that became famous in the 2010s [6]. It is a compound word of "Hell" and "Chosun," meaning "Korea is close to hell and there is no hope at all." It also has the meaning of "Korea is a bad country to live in, comparable to hell."

The term 880,000 Won Generation is derived from the title of the book by Woo and Park [7] and is an expression that refers to the generation of young people who live or plan to live as non-regular workers. According to the authors' analysis, in 2007, people earning about 880,000 won in their 20s were likely to become non-regular workers, so this term was given. This is a term that expresses the economic situation of Italian youth and is reminiscent of the novel "Thousand Euro Generation" (Milleuristi), published in 2005.

N-Give-up Generation is a neologism that refers to the generation of people who have given up N things. It started with the first 3-Things-Give-up generation and expanded to the "N-Things-Give-up generation." 3-Things-Give-up generations are those who have given up on three things, dating, marriage, and childbirth, and 5-Things-Give-up generations are those who have given up on five things, including home and career [8].

"Spoon Social Rank Theory" refers to the idea that individuals in a country can be classified into different socioeconomic classes according to their parents' wealth and income levels, and as a result, success in an individual's life is entirely born from a wealthy family. This theory is believed to have originated from the famous English idiom "Born with a silver spoon in one's mouth." This means "to be born in a wealthy environment" or "to be born with good luck." In the past, European aristocrats often used silver bowls, and nannies could use silver spoons to feed their children to know the wealth of the family [9].

Four out of five young people answered that they had ever thought of wanting to leave Korea. It is said that young people who should be the driving force for national growth and development want to leave the country where they were born and raised. This is the opinion of young people who account for 81% of the respondents [10]. Jeong et al. [10] surveyed 1003 young people aged 18 to 30 in 2017. The following is the reason why there have been times when you have thought of wanting to leave Korea (**Table 1**).


### **Table 1.**

*Reasons for wanting to leave Korea (%).*

University life was not easy due to COVID-19, etc., and finding a job is becoming more difficult. It can be said that it is a matter of national importance to improve the living conditions of college students during a special period and their happiness and satisfaction.
