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| Suwon city's welfare officials talk with a city resident in need of urgent help during their visit. The government's social welfare policy again came under fire after a three-member family with financial problems committed suicide earlier this week. / Korea Times file |
By Kim Se-jeong
The government's social welfare system has come under fire after a three-member family struggling with financial difficulties committed suicide earlier this week.
On Monday, the police in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, found three people ― two adult women and one child ― dead in their home. In a hand-written note, the child's mother mentioned financial struggles as the cause for the drastic decision. The child's mother was separated from the father and was supporting the family.
This is only one of many similar stories heard in recent years. According to the Hankyoreh, 18 similar cases have been reported last year alone with 70 people dead. What was commonly found in those families was that they were never detected by government welfare service providers. The local Gimpo government found no record of the mother requesting or receiving any social assistance.
"There are many people in crisis who need help but the web of social assistance cannot cover them all," Lee Yun-jung of the E-Land Foundation told the Korea Times. The foundation has been supporting families in need of urgent help since 1996.
"Recently, we had a case where the main breadwinner had a car accident and couldn't work for a few months. Not only did they not have money for medical expenses, this family didn't have enough to pay for food, their children's education and other expenses. However, the family couldn't get any help from the government channel because their reported income levels were too high.
Still far from adequate, the extent of social assistance has improved since 2014 when a mother and her two daughters committed suicide in Songpa district in eastern Seoul.
"The government service has improved a lot since 2014," Lee said.
The government mobilized big data to detect the financially vulnerable, finding people who weren't able to pay their utility bills and national health insurance fees for months, and dispatching local welfare officials to their homes.
The government also trained local community leaders to detect people in crisis. The Ministry of Education collected a list of students who were missing from school for a long time period and sent the local government official to investigate.
Speaking with the Hankyoreh, Prof. Ku In-hoe of Seoul National University pointed out that the real solution to the problem would be for the government to lower the bar for basic social welfare services.
"The services are out there but many aren't eligible because of picky requirements. "It's very difficult to meet all the requirements," Ku said.
Under the current system, families whose monthly earnings are lower than the standard amount set by the government can receive financial assistance for living and housing, free health care services and subsidies for their children's education.
Ku added the government must change the policies toward helping the elderly population. Currently, elderly people cannot be eligible for social welfare if they have children who earn a decent wage, even if they do not live together. "This condition should be abolished completely," Ku said.
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