Early Winter Strikes Hard Heartless on Poor

"I can not afford to buy oil," said a 78-year-old woman, identified only as Choi, Tuesday morning at her worn-out single room located in Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul.

Choi ceaselessly wiped her tears as soon as she met Im Mi-hyeon, a 29-year-old female social worker working for Parkaejega Elderly Welfare Center, a neighboring charity organization.

Although Choi is having difficultly in both speaking and listening and has been living by herself for over four years without financial assistance from her three married daughters, she has not been able to list herself as a protection recipient for basic livelihood security since she is registered as a dependent family member of her daughters who have jobs.

Choi bears the cold with her electric blanket because she can not afford to buy oil. She, however, would also not dare to turn on the blanket as often as she needs because of the burden of an electricity bill. Choi’s savings are diminishing, and her only income is 10,000 won per month from a welfare center, said Im.

The cold is fatal to elderly people living alone as they are very vulnerable to diseases. However, they are inevitably exposed to the cold in their oil-boiler installed shabby houses due to financial difficulties.

Although all of the 90 elderly people living by themselves and being taken care of by the welfare center started to feel cold just after summer passed, none of them has yet to turn on their boilers, said Im.

A fuel cost of 150,000 won to 170,000 won per month is a lot of money for solitude elderly people since it would exceed their monthly expenses on food and thus this is one of the main reasons that the elderly find winter even more lonesome, said Kim Hae-suk, a 44-year-old female volunteer worker.

On the afternoon of the same day, persimmon trees and pumpkin vines, which are hardly seen in urban areas, were observed everywhere at a village of illegally built shacks in Dongjak-gu, Seoul. However, the torn shacks which were seen through wire fences under blistering sunshine looked wrenched.

Its 120 residents of the 64 households have been living in tents or neighboring houses for almost three months without receiving a single cent of compensation after having lost their homes, where they lived for 30 to 40 years. They are even anxious because they are not sure when the supply of electricity and water drawn from demolished houses will be discontinued.

Young people have not been able to go out for work as they are afraid that their tents would be removed when they are away. Although several volunteer organizations and social workers are helping us, our debts are snowballing as most of us are always short of living expenses, said Jang Ok-sun, a 71-year-old woman.

In fact, although Lee Myeong-jae, a social worker working for a town office, requested an immediate aid for the homeless residents who are not recipients of the basic livelihood security protection scheme, no response has yet to be made. Even though social welfare systems have slightly improved, they are not yet flexible enough to deal with the realities of actual occurrences, said Lee.

Residents of an rental apartment in the vicinity also suffer from financial difficulties. Park Ok-sun, a 41-year-old female living in unit 501 and who runs a chicken shop in the neighborhood, eventually became a protection recipient for basic livelihood security as her debts mounted over 80 million won while raising her two sons by herself.

The collapse of the household economy has forced people to desert their family members, and an increasing number of households have turned into the very poor class as their small businesses went bankrupt, Lee explained the current trend.

Yi-Young Cho Yang-Hwan Jung lycho@donga.com ray@donga.com