The Netflix Inc. hit Squid Game may be a big win for South Korea’s entertainment industry, but it has also exposed the country’s darker side to a global audience. 

Decades of super-charged growth have left a deeply stratified society, where soaring house prices and a lack of social mobility fuel excessive borrowing. Discrimination against women, the elderly and migrant workers are deeply entrenched and many younger people find life such a grind they're giving up all together.