Episode 6: Korea’s Workplace Bullying: Known as Gapjil

In the sixth episode of “Misaeng: An Incomplete Life,” the harsh reality of workplace bullying in South Korea’s work environment is well portrayed throughout. The term “gapjil” is used to describe the abuse of power by someone in a superior position over his or her subordinates. This is becoming an increasingly serious issue in Korea in recent years due to many who state that they have witnessed or experienced gapjil. As portrayed in the drama, many employees in Korea today are constantly exposed to negative actions from their bosses and co-workers. Even though the rigid social hierarchy in Korean culture is ineluctable, people in higher position mistreat others who are considered to be in a lower status when there should be mutual respect.

The problem of gapjil that is created by the imbalanced power relationship between employees cause immense stress among workers in the labour force. Some examples of workplace bullying behaviours include wrong or unjust judgement about a bullied employee’s work performance, criticizing one’s personal life, restricting expression of personal opinion, assigning meaningless tasks, and backbiting (Yoo 2018, 2). In the beginning of the episode, An Yeong-i is harassed by her boss during a meeting. Here, the issue of female workers being looked down upon by male workers appears, as it is a reoccurring topic in the drama. Her boss feels that it is absolutely acceptable to disrespect her due to the fact that he is in a superior work position and also the fact that he is a male, which ideally should not matter at all.

The “gap-eul” (eul meaning subordinate) relationship exists not only between people in the labour force but also between friends. As shown in the drama, when O Sang-sik is given the task to make a contract with a larger company, he finds out that the director of that company is his old friend from high school, Byeon Hyeong-cheol. He assumes that there would not be any problem signing the contract since they have known each other for a long time; however, Hyeong-cheol makes the situation difficult for Sang-sik. Unlike Sang-sik, he has never thought of him as a friend but a rival. Now that he is in a higher position, he makes mocking remarks about Sang-sik’s work position and his company. Later he tells Sang-sik to just think of this whole situation as his gapjil to him that he could not do when they were young.

The authoritarian attitude and abuse of power of a person in a superior position over others is a prominent issue in Korea’s society. According to a survey, almost nine out of ten Korean workers have experienced the boss-subordinate relationship called “gapjil” (Choi, 2016). The employees who are victims of gapjil often experience health issues, both physically and mentally. Despite the fact that gapjil is a wrongdoing, many do not make issue with mistreatment thinking that it would not make any difference. It is something that must cease to exist in Korea’s society.

Written By: Shirley Sion Cha

495 words according to WordCounter

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Here are some discussion questions..

   1. What causes a person in a superior position to look down upon a person in a lower status? Does living in Korea’s highly competitive society attribute to this?

2. Is it possible for a subordinate person to stand up against gapjil? What would happen when one does so?

Bibliography:

Choi, Sung-jin. “Most Korean Workers Victims of 'Gapjil' on Job.” The Korea Times, Apr. 20, 2016. http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2016/04/116_203010.html (Accessed on Oct. 20, 2018)

Yoo, Gyesook and Soomi Lee. "It Doesn’t End there: Workplace Bullying, Work-to-Family Conflict, and Employee Well-being in Korea." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 15, no. 7 (2018): 1-13.