Was Squid Game Inspired by True Events that Transpired in South Korea?

 Squid Game is Netflix's most successful non-English series to date. The plot captivates viewers, centering on individuals participating in perilous games to win money. Beyond being a survival thriller, Squid Game also explores themes of economic inequality and the realities of modern capitalism.

Read How Squid Game 2 fared in terms of viewership

As per latest chatter in social media, netizens have found a similar incident in South Korea as that of Squid Game.

During the 1970s and 1980s in South Korea, internment camps were established in several cities. For those unfamiliar, an internment camp is a facility where large groups of people are detained without formal charges. These camps, which originated in the 1960s, were intended to "cleanse" society of poverty and other perceived societal issues. Thousands of individuals, including homeless people, street children, and protestors, were confined in these camps.

‘Brother’s Home,’ initially an orphanage, became the largest internment camp in South Korea. Over time, numerous horrific abuses were uncovered, including forced labor, mistreatment, beatings, human trafficking, and torture. Despite housing thousands of individuals, only a small number were actually homeless.

According to Al Jazeera, Brother’s Home was established under a 1975 ordinance designed to clean up the streets and present South Korea as a modern, pristine nation. Located in Busan, it was one of many facilities across the country labeled as "welfare centers," though they were reportedly akin to internment camps. Former inmates have recounted harrowing experiences, including starvation, rape, abuse, torture, and forced labor. ffg

So, was this really the inspiration to Squid Game?

There is actually no evidence that this was the inspiration to the series. It was never mentioned by writer and director Hwang Do Hyuk. In an interview with Variety in September 2021, he mentioned it was inspired by Japanese manga with similar themes involving battles to the death, as well as Korean children's games.

In another interview for The Guardian, he mentioned his own financial struggles as a result of the 2009 financial crash as an inspiration for the show.  Also, he explained how "squid game" originated.

"He drew on a version of tag he played as a boy called squid game, named after the various squid-bodypart shapes that were drawn on to whatever field it was played on. "I used to be good at fighting my way to the squid's head," Hwang says. "You had to fight to win."

In the first game in the show, all 456 contestants can only move when the face of a sinister mechanised doll is turned away from them. Those caught out are mown down with machine-gun fire. Why did Hwang create a horrifyingly brutal contest that holds human life so cheap? "Because the show is motivated by a simple idea," he says. "We are fighting for our lives in very unequal circumstances."

Although, there are real events shown in the drama. Like the back story of Seong Gihun. It was inspired by SsangYong Motor layoffs controversy in 2009 where it laid off 2000 employees. Also, South Koreans also recognized the crushing cycle of debt depicted in the show as a very real aspect of their lives, as indicated in a Reuters report in 2021.

So, what does Brothers Home have to do with Squid Game? They may have similarities such as human rights abuses, personally, I think there is no other connection. 

Source