SEOUL — It was created as a biting satire of South Korea's notoriously competitive education system, but the country's most popular cable TV drama has inspired some fans to ignore its warnings and instead double down on their pursuit of success.
"SKY Castle" follows several ambitious families as their drive to send their children to the country’s best universities and secure lucrative jobs leads to identity fraud, suicide and murder.
The show's name comes from a fictionalized version of luxury residential community in Seoul's suburbs, but is also a nod to the acronym "SKY," which refers to South Korea's top three universities: Seoul National University, Korea University and Yonsei University.
It’s the most-watched drama ever to air on South Korean cable networks, according to Nielsen Korea, and has found a wide following in China.
As the series came to an end this week, however, there were signs the show has led some South Koreans adopt some of the more intense educational measures the creators intended to criticise.
Sales of the "studycube", a 2.5 million won ($2,235) wooden closet less than one square meter in size where students can hide themselves away to focus on their homework, for example, have soared eight-fold after it was featured in the show, according to the company which makes it.
"I saw the studycube on 'SKY Castle' and bought it of my own will to create a suitable studying environment for me," said 16-year-old Lee Do-gyeong, who is hoping to be accepted to one of Seoul's top veterinary medicine programmes.
Studycubes sparked debate when they first appeared in South Korea seven years ago, and their appearance in "SKY Castle" led to fresh questions over the country's high-pressure education culture.
Lee Do-gyeong, the high school student, said she was looking forward to studying in cube's sound-proof seclusion, but she acknowledged that if parents forced their children to use the room it could be "nothing more than a rice chest," a reference to an infamous incident where an 18th Century Korean prince was locked away in a rice chest to die. — Reuters
