SEOUL, September 16 (AJP) - “They are better than us,” said one Korean viewer of a viral video showing Nepal’s royal palace on fire, recalling with bitterness former South Korean President’s stunt of declaring martial law last November.
The demonstrations culminated in the resignation of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Sept. 9. Soon after, thousands of young people turned to the online chat platform Discord to collect opinions and demand the dissolution of parliament and the creation of an interim government.
Within days, both the president and the military accepted the proposal, and Nepal’s first female chief justice, Sushila Karki, was named interim prime minister through a Discord vote driven largely by Gen Z participants.
But frustrations among Nepalese youth had been brewing long before the SNS sanctions, fueled by deepening social divides and resentment toward the so-called “nepo kids,” a small group of wealthy families flaunting their luxurious lifestyles online.
According to the World Bank, more than 20 percent of Nepal’s 30 million people live in poverty. Youth unemployment reached 22 percent in 2022–23, with more than 2,000 young Nepalis crossing borders daily to seek jobs in the Middle East or neighboring countries.
The anger of frustrated youth has also spilled beyond Nepal’s borders. In Indonesia, university students recently staged mass demonstrations after revelations that parliamentarians were collecting $3,000 monthly housing allowances — ten times Jakarta’s minimum wage.
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