Income Gap:  In fulfilling those hopes, however, Korea faces some potentially disruptive problems. Some are social. For all the progress, deep pockets of poverty exist throughout the country. In Seoul, glistening high-rise apartment houses jostl

Income Gap:  In fulfilling those hopes, however, Korea faces some potentially disruptive problems. Some are social. For all the progress, deep pockets of poverty exist throughout the country. In Seoul, glistening high-rise apartment houses jostle with warrens of slum housing; in remote rural communities people are still eking out subsistence livings. As a result, conspicuous consumption by a nouveau riche elite has become a real source of friction. In contrast to Japan, which has managed to spread its postwar wealth relatively evenly, Korea is beset by a widening income gap between rich and poor.
1. What is the usually meaning of the expression "a deep pocket"?
2. What does 'deep pockets' means here ?
3. The expression "deep pockets" is used here ironically, what does it indicate ?

1. "a deep pocket" usually means "a large sum of money"
2. Here "deep pockets" means serious problems, a terrible situation.
3. It is used here ironically to indicate that in spite of fast economic growth in South Korea, sad poverty still exists throughout the country.