"You Are a Star": How a Poet's Words Challenge Korea's Comparison Culture
When a simple verse becomes a mirror to society's deepest wounds
SEOUL — In a society where children memorize university rankings before they learn to dream, where social media feeds become battlegrounds of curated perfection, and where the question "What do you do?" carries the weight of judgment, a 74-year-old poet's five-line verse has become an unexpected act of rebellion.
Na Tae-joo's poem "You Are a Star" (Neoneun Byeolida) forms the heart of Korea's newest public service announcement, launched by the Korea Broadcast Advertising Corporation (KOBACO) on November 6, 2025. But this is not merely another feel-good campaign. It is a direct confrontation with the psychological toll of a culture built on relentless comparison.
The Poem That Refuses to Compare
The complete text of "You Are a Star" reads:
There is no need to live following others
Hide a star in your heart
And live with it
Never lose that star
Become the star yourself.
The poem's power lies in its radical simplicity. In a nation where the phrase "comparison is the thief of joy" rings hollow against the reality of entrance exam rankings, employment statistics, and apartment prices that define social worth, Na's words offer something rare: permission to stop measuring oneself against others.
The Weight of "Jeong" in a Competitive Society
Korea's comparison culture is not accidental. It is the byproduct of rapid modernization, Confucian hierarchies, and an education system that treats childhood as preparation for a single exam. The statistics tell a grim story:
The numbers behind the exhaustion: - South Korea ranks among the highest in OECD countries for youth suicide rates - Over 70% of high school students report experiencing depression related to academic pressure - The average Korean works 1,915 hours annually, significantly above the OECD average - Social media usage correlates with increased anxiety about appearance and success
But numbers cannot capture the daily erosion of self-worth that comes from living in a society where your university determines your marriage prospects, where your job title precedes your name, and where even casual conversations become opportunities for subtle ranking.
When Advertising Becomes a Public Good
KOBACO's decision to center a public service campaign on "emotional healing" (jeongseojok chiyu) marks a significant shift. This is the first time the organization has addressed mental and emotional well-being as a public health issue requiring intervention.
"We wanted to emotionally convey the message that we are all precious beings as we are and shining stars," a KOBACO representative explained. "We hope this ad can provide warm comfort, even if just for a moment, to those who watch it."
The campaign's timing is deliberate. In 2025, Korea faces a mental health crisis that can no longer be ignored. The traditional emphasis on collective achievement has produced economic miracles but left individuals feeling like interchangeable parts in a machine. The poet's insistence that each person contains their own irreplaceable light challenges the foundational assumption of comparison culture: that human worth can be ranked.
The Paradox of Korean Success
Korea's transformation from war-torn poverty to global economic power in a single generation required extraordinary collective effort. The education system that produces world-class engineers and doctors, the work ethic that built Samsung and Hyundai, the cultural exports that gave the world K-pop and K-drama—all emerged from a society willing to sacrifice individual comfort for collective advancement.
But the cost of this success is now visible. The same competitive drive that built prosperity has created a generation exhausted by the need to constantly prove their worth. The same education system that produces high test scores produces children who cannot imagine futures outside narrow definitions of success. The same work culture that built economic miracles leaves workers too depleted to enjoy the prosperity they created.
Watch the full "Emotional Healing" public service announcement
Why Advertising Matters More Than Ever
In an age of algorithmic feeds and targeted marketing, public service advertising occupies a unique space. Unlike commercial advertising that seeks to create desire, public service campaigns can create permission—permission to rest, to feel, to exist outside the narrow definitions of success that dominate public discourse.
The "Emotional Healing" campaign uses Na Tae-joo's warm, accessible language to reach people who might dismiss clinical discussions of mental health. Poetry bypasses intellectual defenses and speaks directly to the heart. In a culture where admitting struggle is often seen as weakness, a poem can offer cover—it is art, not therapy; beauty, not breakdown.
This matters because Korea's mental health infrastructure remains inadequate for the scale of need. Therapy carries stigma, psychiatric medication is often hidden, and workplace cultures rarely accommodate mental health days. In this context, a public service ad becomes more than awareness—it becomes intervention.
The Star You Already Are
The poem's final line—"Become the star yourself"—contains a subtle shift. It does not say "become a star" (implying achievement, recognition, external validation). It says become "the star"—the specific, irreplaceable light you already carry within.
This distinction matters in a culture obsessed with becoming something other than what you are. The pressure to transform—to be thinner, richer, more successful, more admired—is relentless. Na's poem suggests that the transformation required is not addition but recognition: seeing the light you already possess.
For a society built on striving, this is a radical message. It suggests that you do not need to earn your worth through achievement, that comparison is not just exhausting but fundamentally misguided, that the star in your heart is not something to be polished for others' approval but something to be protected for your own survival.
A Moment of Warmth in a Cold System
Will a single public service campaign change Korea's comparison culture? Of course not. The structural forces that create competitive pressure—limited university spots, scarce good jobs, expensive housing, rigid hierarchies—remain unchanged. A poem cannot reform an education system or restructure an economy.
But cultural change begins with permission to imagine alternatives. Before systems can shift, individuals must believe that different ways of living are possible. The "Emotional Healing" campaign offers that permission, even if only for the 30 seconds the ad runs.
In a society where children are taught to compare before they are taught to dream, where success is narrowly defined and ruthlessly pursued, where the question "Are you happy?" is met with confusion rather than reflection, a poet's simple verse becomes an act of resistance.
"Never lose that star," Na Tae-joo writes. In a culture designed to make you forget it exists, remembering becomes revolutionary.
Sources
This article draws on reporting from Yonhap News Agency's coverage of KOBACO's "Emotional Healing" public service campaign (November 6, 2025) and incorporates the complete text of Na Tae-joo's poem "You Are a Star."
Original reporting: - Na, Hwak-jin. "KOBACO Releases New Public Service Ad 'Emotional Healing.'" Yonhap News Agency, November 6, 2025. https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20251106054000017
Video: - KOBACO. "Public Service Ad - Emotional Healing." YouTube, 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brM8JQcLJDk
Photography: - Featured image: KOBACO "Emotional Healing" campaign still, 2025.
This article is part of Seoul Signals' ongoing coverage of Korean culture, society, and the intersection of art and public discourse.
