Economic & Political Context

13 Oct 2010, the Korea Herald, Social entrepreneurism boosted by leading firms

'Conglomerates, government step up support for social enterprises as part of campaign for ‘fair society’

In a visit to a traditional market in June, President Lee Myung-bak stressed the need for more social enterprises, saying they can play a huge part in alleviating social polarization and the negative aspects of economic development.'

부랑인 & 노숙인

Korean Terminologies of Homeless


By simply using the google translator, the two Korean terms 부랑인 & 노숙인 of Homeless is simply just ‘Homeless’. But in Korea, they define them differently as : 

부랑인 is homeless who are not willing to work / substance addicts, etc. 

노숙인 are those collapsed with the economy collapsed  in the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, (they generally called it "IMF") and became homeless, and they are those who have a will to get a job. 

And there are two separate lists of welfare facilities for two different group of people. May be it's worth to find out what's how differently are the two groups of people live in the city.

방 (Room)

 

Walking along the street of Seoul, even though in suburb area, there are always shops, cafe or restaurants on the ground floor, (Korean call it 1/F) open til late at night or 24 hours. Not only that keep all your time here occupied, but also the different types of '방's behind the light boxes signage flooded around the city.  Going upstair to 2/F or downstair into basements from those narrow staircases directly open to the pedestrian, one can find numerous 방s inside not very big ‘keunseng’, a unique Korean type of buildings. Internal spaces of these buildings are divided into even smaller rooms (방) or partitioned spaces with different functions to fulfill different needs of this condensed population.

 

"Jjimjilbang" Korean Public Bath House = Temporary Shelter for Homeless?

Public Bathing was originated from a communal needs of cleanliness. In Western Counturies, most public baths have been replaced by private bathing facilities while in Korea, this unique culture still exist in two forms:  Mogyoktang & Jjimjilbang, which is elaborated by incorporating recreational facilities. 



24 HOURS OPEN, we went to this 7 storeys high Spa & Resort to have a bath and different sort of sauna there. It is a place for local family, couples, friends, after-work office workers, tourist, etc. with 12000won (appox. 6.5 British pounds), one can clean their body with the unlimited supply of water, sleep in lounge area or room solely for sleeping, drink hot or cold water. A detail description by local website is linked here.

Someone interpreted this spa can be one of the sanctuary / shelter for homeless man, as described in "Two Houses in Seoul" but 12000won for 12 hours' rent as a temporary shelter, might not be a long term solution for the poor homeless. and does this traditional custom of Korean means something more than that?

1st Meeting with Korean Tutor

Went through some alley ways-like narrow street in between residential tower blocks, we ended up sitting in a family-run type small restaurant, in front of a 42" flat screen TV hung right above our seat on the wall, drinking most popular Korean liquor, Soju, having Amercian KFC-type deep fry chicken with chips plus I guess traditional Korean spicy cold noodles "Bibim guksu" with snail, seaweed, spicy source,etc toppings. In this greeting dinner with Haewon, one of our tutor in the coming two months in KNUA, she tried to understand our individual projects' intentions and where our interest lays on. 

She suggested me to go to the Seoul Train Station where quite a lot of homeless people gather around. From the time of the old station which is under renovation to become a museum to the current new station, homeless people never stopped to claim their territories there. Look at the contrasting situation before and after the renovation. 

She also suggested me to have a look at some community & agency providing services to homeless people or marginalized people in Seoul as a start.

*a little sketch of  a mobile snack store while we are waiting outside Ichon Station, they are all around Seoul in the suburbs, selling the some traditional Korean snack made from rice.

Incheon Airport

What is Seoul? (1)

Visualizing an airline's written introduction about Seoul on the plane.

1. Impression of Seoul’s City Centre

2. Impression of Seoul’s different districts

A Homeless in Hong Kong