14 (4) The Korean Instinct to Save the Nation: From Cigarettes to Gold Rings

What would you give to save your country?

A ring? A medal? A pack of cigarettes?

If you were Korean, chances are, you’d say yes—and so would your neighbors.

In this episode, we explore two extraordinary moments in modern Korean history where ordinary citizens mobilized to rescue their nation:

💨 In 1907, men gave up smoking, and women melted their jewelry to pay off Korea’s national debt—long before colonization was official.🥇 In 1997, amid the Asian Financial Crisis, 3.5 million people donated their gold rings, baby keepsakes, and Olympic medals to help repay the IMF.

These weren’t government mandates.

They were spontaneous acts of civic unity—grassroots patriotism that crossed class, gender, and age.

You’ll learn:

💰 Why Korea’s gold-collecting campaign stunned the world👑 How a debt crisis in 1907 led to Korea’s first modern mass movement📺 How media and shared memory transformed sacrifice into joy🧠 Why Koreans keep rallying—again and again—when the nation is in danger

This is Part 4 of The People’s Mandate: Korea’s Democratic Edge, a special miniseries within Growing Up in Korea, exploring the deep cultural roots of Korea’s active civic spirit.

🎙️ Audio generated using Google NotebookLM📚 Part 14 of the Growing Up in Korea series

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