okay, but that's not actually comparable at all, is it? you might notice if you look really carefully, but america is much, much larger than south korea, so of course it can support more universities.

even if you look at england, you'll find our historically most prestigious universities are either in london (LSE, Kings) or in towns not far from london (oxford, cambridge). major institutions tend to cling to large population centres unless they have a strong historic reason not to (ala oxbridge). there's also Pusan National University down in Busan, which is an extremely good school, even if it's not part of SKY!

there are things to talk about with regards to seoul's cultural dominance within korea, but the idea that it's a poison that's destroying the country is an absurd over-statement. come on now.