Image: Trend Korea 2022. Credit: Mirae-eui Chang.

Seoul National University professor Kim Nan-do 김난도 서울대학교 교수 published his annual Trend Korea 트렌드 코리아 book for 2022. Kim has been publishing Trend Korea since 2007; the book is considered the leading authority in predicting South Korea’s consumer trends.

Kim says 2022 will be the year of “Nano Society” - a society that fractures beyond the atomic level, to a point that even interpersonal empathy will be in short supply. Kim also focuses on what he terms “X-teen Generation,” the Gen X who share the same lifestyle as their teenage children.